Love Lasts for Eternity
by LydiaDiCalari
Summary: After the Titanic sinks, Jack and Rose are both rescued, unaware that the other is alive. They are reunited on Carpathia and start a new life togeather. Where will life take them? Will they live a happy Life? READ AND REVEIW PLEASE!
1. Chapter 1

Jack's POV

I slowly felt myself drifting out of a deep sleep. It was strange, I fet like I was floating... my body felt weghtless... I opened my eyes... and felt a peircing sting in them. I snapped them shut again in pain. Then I realised I was under water. Without opening my eyes again, I quickly kicked for the surface. I gasped in the cold night air. I filled his lungs again and again, my body desperatly starved of oxygen. I glanced around me. I was surrounded by dead bodies, most floating in life jackets, some floating on deck chairs or peices of wood like Rose. Rose!

I jerked his head around wildly looking for her, but I couldn't see her or the wood anywhere. I must have drifted too far away. I tried to shout her name but all that came out was a feeble whisper. My throat felt sore, unable to make the words properly. I tried again and again, desperatly trying to find her. I eventually realised that she must have let herself die, thinking I was dead. I felt a tear fall down my cheek at realising the girl I loved more than anyone was dead. I decided that if she couldn't live, then I would live for her. I decided I had to survive. For her. I scanned the dark feild of bodies and found a discarded peice of wood, smaller than the other one, but still big enough to climb on. I scrambled on top of the wood, my joints stiff and aching with cold. I immediatly began to shiver uncontrollably. Suddenly it felt warmer to be back in the water. But I didn't let myself retreat back into the icy sea. I stayed gripping the wood tightly, shivering so violently it hurt my muscles.

I suddelnly saw a light in the distance. I opened my eyes as wide as I could, given the frost that had formed on my eye lids. I lifted my head to see where the light was. My vision was blurred but I could just make out a white life boat, empty except for 5 people, 4 rowsmen and a stewards flashing the light around and yelling "Is there anyone alive out there?! Can anyone hear me?!" I tried with all my might to call to them but my voice was just a feeble whisper. I called desperatly but they couldn't hear me. As they carefully rowed towards me searching for people alive, I tried splashing the water and banging on the wood. I felt so weak I couldn't make much noise but I tried as hard as I possibly could. I kept trying to regain my voice, shouting and calling for help as loud as I could bare. In my desperation, I began to cry. I cried because I was trying so hard and yet the couldn't hear me. I was crying because I'd lost all my freinds; Fabrizio, Tommy, Helga, Cora. Rose. I couldn't stop the tears falling from my eyes. I finally was overcome with sorrow. I lay my head down on the wood, sobbing heavily. I felt like I was excepting my fate, to die here in the freezing Atlantic, alone.

The light shined in my direction finally. It shone right in my face, damn near blinding me. I opened my eyes to see the life boat about 20 metres from me. I tried to shout again. "Help! Please help me! Please, help!", I shouted as loud as I could, i.e not very loud. However, it was enough for the steward to see that I was alive. He shouted at the rowers "Row over there! As fast as you can, hurry!" He shone the light back onto me. I suddenly heard a farmiliar voice from the boat. "Jack! Oh my God! It's you!" I glanced in the boat to see that one of the rowers was none other than Molly Brown. She must have insisted she go back to look for survivors.I tried to lift myself up but I couldn't, I still felt so weak. I collapsed back onto the wood hopelessly.

As soon as the boat was a few inches away, Molly dropped her oar and swept along the boat to join the steward. The steward extended his arm to me. I took his arm (he shuddered as he felt how cold I was) and he pulled me closer to the boat. Molly grabbed my other arm and they both helped pull me into the boat. As soon as I was on board, my legs buckled underneath me and I collapsed into Molly's arms. I was still sobbing uncontrollably, and shivering like mad. I felt several thick blankets being wrapped around me tightly and the steward shouting orders to the other rowsmen. Molly didn't go back to the rowing. She stayed with me. I was still shivering uncontrollably through my heavy sobs. I felt like I just wanted to fall asleep. I was wrapped so tightly in blankets that I couldn't move. I suddenly started coughing uncontrollably. I could barely breathe through the coughs. Molly stroked my icy hair, gently calming me. I felt exausted. The world around me suddenly became a blur as I felt myself falling alseep.

I awoke to the sound of crewmen shouting orders. I opened my eyes to see a huge ship with the word "Carpathia" written on the side. Several rope ladders dangled over the side of the ship and people were climbing up from the life boats. Our boat was rowed over to one of the ladders and began to climb up on borard. Molly had stayed with me. When she saw I was awake she said "How're you feeling?"

"Tired", I muttered feebly. The steward had stayed behind too. He had shouted up at the crewmen onboard something and came over to us.

"Can you climb?", he asked me. I managed to sit up well enough.

"I think so", I replied. He and Molly helped me to my feet and the steward went up the ladder first. Then I began to climb and Molly went last.

I slowly but surely climbed up the ladder and climbed over the top of the deck. When I finally got to the top, I felt so exausted, I collapsed onto the floor. Blankets were immedialy wrapped tightly around me as I grew closer to falling into a deep sleep. The last thing I felt before going unconsious was my body being carried into the warm.

_I was floating in the water again. Drifting wieghtlessly through endless water. But this time my eyes were open. I tried to kick for the surface but I couldn't. I was slowly sinking downwards, down into the black ocean. I kicked furiously. I could see the top of the water, I could see Rose. It was the first time I'd seen her, standing on the deck of the ship with Cal, arguing with him, a symbol of how she would spend the rest of her life. I tried to reach her but couldn't. I kept going down... down.... "No!!", I screamed. But nothing came out except bubbles of air. I shouted over and over again "No! no! NO!!" but it was no use._

I thrashed my head around wildly, my eyes tight shut, still screaming "No, no!" I was sweating heaviy and tears fell from my eyes as I thrashed around. I opened my eyes wide. I was panting heavily. I didn't know where I was. I couldn't remember how I'd got there. All I knew was that Rose needed me and I wasn't with her. "Rose? Rose!", I found myself shouting. I was so confused. All I knew was that I was lying in a bed in a strange place. A doctor and nurse entered the room. The doctor smiled when he saw I was awake. "Ah, good, your awake" he said.

"Where am I? Where's Rose? Where is she!". I shouted.

"Shh, calm down", the nurse said calmly. She felt my burning forehead and said to the doctor "Still no improvement sir". The doctor frowned and wrote something on a form. I grew frustrated.

"Where is Rose!", I shouted again. I sat up in the bed, staring at the doctor.

"Shouting won't get you anywhere. We don't know a Rose but you can check the survivour list when it's been printed. Now calm down and rest" said the nurse firmly. I didn't move.

"I need to know where she is! Please where is she", I pleaded. The doctor ignored continued to write on the form. The nurse firmly pushed me back onto the pillows.

"Now stop this", she said sounding annoyed. "Calm down or we'll have to sedate you" she said threateningly. I wasn't giving up.

"Not until you tell me where Rose is" I spat back at her. She didn't reply. Insead, she just got the doctor to hold me down whilst she checked me over. No matter how I struggled, it was useless. The doctor was stronger than me and I was still weak from illness. I felt a raw pain in the back of my throat an suddenly had a coughing fit, struggling to breathe between the violent coughs. The nurse listened to my heart and felt my throat which caused me to moan in pain. I still struggled against the doctor's grip but in vain. The nurse eventually got the thermometre under my tounge and had to hold my jaw shut so I didn't spit it out. When she finally took it out, she frowned at the doctor and said "One hundred and four, sir" The doctor frowned too and finally let me go. He spoke to the nurse who nodded and left the room. She came back a minute later with a bottle of cough syrup. I refused to take it, a memory of taking it when I was a child resurfacing in my mind. Not only had it tasted bitter and horrible but it also made me feel dizzy and drousy. Eventually the doctor had to hold me down again and pinch my nose so I'd have to open my mouth. Then the nurse quickly tipped the dose down my throat. I coughed and choked but was forced to swallow it. I was nearly sick, the taste was so horrible. The nuse sighed and said bitterly "You're worse than a child" The medcine soon took effect and I felt drousy. I tried to stay awake but couldn't. I soon fell into an uneasy sleep.

The next few days were like hell. I spent most of the time in an uneasy sleep. I'd wake up, spend a while thinking of ways in whch Rose could've survived. I still held hope in my heart fr her. I would often be stopped in mid-thought by the doctor or nurse. After a while, I figured out that it was 4 times a day they forced that horrible medicine down my still sore throat. I'd resist but would soon be overcome with drousiness and fall asleep. I'd have the nightmare alost every time I was asleep. It was always the same as the first one. I'd wake up, tossign and turning vioently, sweating and often shuting Rose's name. The doctor or nurse often had to inject me with a seditive to calm me down. It was horrible.

When I woke up on the 3rd day of being in the infirmary, I could hear someone talking. It was once of the very rare times I didn't wake up from the nightmare. I recognised the voice. I knew without opening my eyes that it was Molly. I slowly opened my eyes which suddenly very heavy eyes. My vision was blury but I could make out the shape of Molly sitting beside my bed talking to the doctor. Neither of them ralised I was awake.

"Well, sonny? How serious is it?", Molly asked the doctor.

"We don't really know for sure. He has a very high fever we can't seem to bring down and yet his body is ice cold. He's showing all the signs of severe hypothermia. Plus the fact that he keeps having nightmares and wakes up screaming"

"Well, I'm not surprised after what he's been through!", Molly shot back at the doctor. "Plus it can't be good knowing that the minute you wake up, you're gonna have that stuff forced down you"

"I''m sorry Mrs Brown but it's for his own good"

"If you ask me, it doesn't seem to be ding any good if you say he hasn't improved" I couldn't help but smile then, that's exactly the thing I'd expect to hear from Molly Brown. The doctor gave up and left, hastily saying he had to check on something. Molly sighed. I chose that moment to stir like I'd just woken up.

Molly looked at me and smiled when she saw I was awake. "Hiya Jack", she said cheerily

"Hi Molly", I said back, my voice still a little hoarse.

"How d'you feel?", she asked.

"Horrible", I replied. I did. I was drousy, I felt sick, I was hot, I was cold, I was weak. I summoned all my streanth to pull myself up. Molly looked at me sympatheticlly.

"I'm not surprised, the amount of drugs they're injecting into you", she said with a glare at where the doctor had been standing.

"Molly", I asked. "Please, have you seen Rose?", I asked sounding more like I was pleading. She hesitated for a moment then said sadly,

"No, no one has, not since she ran away from the life boat" My heart sank. I felt tears welling in my eyes. My worst fear was that Rose was dead. "Jack, I'm so sorry" she said, putting her hand on mine and giving it a reasurring squeeze. "I don't know why she did it, she just ran off. Cal ran after her but she spat in his face and was gone. You don't know how upset her mother was, she begged the stewards to stop lowering the life boat. I honestly don't know what posessed her to pull a stunt like that" I lowered my head.

"I do", I muttered, more to myself than Molly.

"You what?", Molly asked, confused. I lifted my head and looked her in the eye.

"I know why she ran away from the lifeboat" Molly's eyes widened. "She did it to save me", I continued. Molly looked at me, stunned and confused.

"What do you mean, Jack?", she asked me gently, sensing that it was a sensitive subject. I drew in a deep breath and told our story. I told her everything, from when I'd been arrested to when we were in the water. From when I passed out after making Rose promise, to when I woke up drifting in the water. Molly was almost in tears when I was finished. So was I. It was so painful reliving each detail of the sinking. It was then that I remembered I was still wearing the handcuffs of my wrists, the hospital had been unabe to remove the strong metal. When I reluctantly told Molly about the nightmare I'd kept having, I couldn't help tears falling from my eyes. I reminded me that either Rose was dead or trapped in her life with Cal, and me unable to free her again.

"Oh, Jack", she said softly and pulled me into a hug. I lay my head on her shoulder and cried.

When we finally broke apart, Molly told me the one thing I didn't want to know. "Cal survived", she told me, her voice bitter after I'd told her the details of the sinking. "He's acting like he's greif stricken over Rose but now I know what he's been up to, I bet he's not"

"Well the last thing he needs to know I that I survived", I said.

"Barely", said Molly. "You lived but you're very sick with doctor says it'll be a couple more weeks until you're fully better"

"Great. Two more weeks of being drugged every other second", I said, sounding frustrated.

"Well, you don't have to stay in hospital. You already sound better than when we found you. Have you got anyone you could stay with when the ship docks? You parents perhaps?"

"Dead", I replied. "They died when I was 13"

"Oh, I'm sorry", Molly said, looking uneasy. "You could always stay with me?" I looked at her.

"Really?", I said hopefully. She smiled.

"Of course you can. You can stay with me as long as you need" I hugged her again in gratitude just as the doctor came in. I felt a jolt in my stomach thinking about the dreaded stuff they called medication. He did walk towards the cupboard where they kept the drugs but Molly beat him to it. "Oh come on, sonny, you can see he's doing fine as it is. Anyway, any more of them drugs and he may aswell have that stuff instead of blood", she said. The doctor reluctantly closed the cupboard again and began to check me over again. He said my heart beat had slowed down (good news apparently) and my temperature had gone down slightly too (again, apparently good news but I didn't think so as I was already cold dispite my burning forehead). He asked me if I felt I could stand and walk. I tried but the second I stood up my legs buckled underneath me. I felt so weak. When I was back in bed, the doctor told me to get some rest. I was reluctant at first but Molly convinced me. "Come on, do as you're told", she said lightly. "If you don't go to sleep yourself, they'll just drug you again" Not wanting anymore drugs inside me, I gave in and snuggled down under the blankets. Molly stayed until I was almost asleep. Then she stroked my hair and quietly left.

I enjoyed my best sleep since I'd arrived. The dream didn't haunt me and I didn't have to worry about the drugs waiting when I woke up. I was however, gently shaken awoken by the doctor and Molly. I panicked when I saw the doctor was filling a saringe with liquid. "Jack, calm down, it's ok", said Molly, placing a reasuring hand on my shoulder. "It's just some fluids to help bring your fever down" I relaxed and let the doctor slip the needle into my extended wrist. He then wrapped the wrist in bandages and punched a small plasitc nozzle into my wrist (Which made me yelp in pain but was over in a minute). The doctor said it was for the injections so I didn't have needle marks all over my wrist. He said I had to take some other antibiotics to help me regain my streanth too. I willingly took the foul tasting medicine, even though I had trouble swallowing the disgusting stuff. After checking me over, the doctor said I was making good progress but was still very sick. "I'll be back in a couple of hours for your next dose. You need an injection every 6 hours and 2 doses of antibiotics every 5 hours. The injections might make you feel a bit drousy but I promise you they're not intended to make you go to sleep", he explained and left. Molly pulled out a long sheet of paper from her pocket.

"I managed to track down this list of surviours", she said. I sat up, eagerly staring at the paper which held the answer I'd prayed for. "I've got some bad news, and some maybe good news", Molly continued. She unfolded the paper and said "There are 3 Roses named on the survived list. A Rose Jacobs, Rose Coombes and Rose Dawson" As soon as she'd finished speaking, I sat bold upright.

"That's her!", I said in delight. "It's got to be her!"

"Jack, calm down!", Molly urged. "I said I had some bad news too. There were 4 Roses listed on the deceased list. A Rose Henderson, Rose Parker, Rose Canning and... Rose Dewitt Buckator. I'm sorry Jack but Rose is dead"

Those words hit me like a punch in the stomach (not unlike the one Lovejoy had given me the night the ship sank). I felt tears welling up in my eyes, which soon overflowed and fell down my face.

"No, she can't be dead she can't!", I said, my voice shaking. "She promised she'd survive" Moly had tears in her eyes, she'd always been fond of Rose. "She can't be dead. She wasn't in the water with me, she was lying on a peice of wood, I know she was" I was pleading with fate to be wrong. I had one last glimour of hope though, a small, tiny chace that she might still be alive. "Molly, please, you have to find out who Rose Dawson is", I said. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Jack, the chances of it being her are one in a million",she tried to persuade me.

"Molly, the chances of me surviving the sinking were one in a million. And I survived. Please Molly, you have to try" I begged. Eventually she gave in reluctantly. "OK", she sighed. "I'll try but don't get your hopes up too much, chanced are it's not her. And she was under 3rd class which makes it even more unlikely"

"Thanks Molly", I said gratefully. "Please try" She said goodbye and left. I sank back into the pillows, hoping against hope that the Rose Dawson on the list was my Rose.


	2. Chapter 2

Rose's POV

I sat huddled in a corner of the 3rd class dining area, sipping soup from a bowl and occasionly dipping a peice of bread in it. All around me, I was sarrounded by greif, sorrow and sadness. Women sat clutching handkercheifs, sobbing into them heavily, greiving their loved ones. Children sat solemly, leaning against their parents or weeping into eachother, overcome by what had happened to them. I felt like I should be one of them. After all, the tragedy had hurt me just as much. The cruel ocean had snatched the only man I'd truly loved from me, Jack. I wasn't crying. I was too overcome with greif to feel anything. I felt numb inside, like no emotions could possibly reach me. I sipped the last few drops of my soup and left the room.

I strolled along the deck of the ship, the light wind blowing in my face. I had kept the blanket that was wrapped around me as soon as I boarded the ship. I needed it to hide my features from anyone who came looking for me, especially Cal. I shivered at the very thought of him and what he had done. Now I truly new him for what he was, a coward, trying to bribe his way off a sinking ship. A heartless devil, pushing people away from the last remaining lifeboat and using a small child to board it. A cruel beast, framing Jack for a crime he didn't commit and leaving him locked in a sinkng ship to die. I thanked the lord I had met Jack, the man who saved me, in every way that a person can be saved. He saved me from suicide, from Cal's evil clutches, from the sinking Titanic, and giving his life to unlock my chains so I could be free. I was just so sad that my freedom had cost his life and our happiness. I felt tears prickling in m eyes. I told myself frmy that crying wouldn't bring Jack back but I couldn't help it. I collasped onto a nearby bench and buried my face in my hands, overcome with sadness. I sobbed my heart out. I sobbed until I suddenly stopped at the sound of a familiar voice. "You, let me through here"

Oh no, it was the voice of Cal. He had come looking for me! Without a second thought, I whipped the blanket up over my head to hide my hair and shuffled towards a group of 3 people, making it apear I was one of their family. I heard the steward say "Sir, I don't think you'll find any of your lot down here, it's all steerage" But nevertheless, I heard Cal stomp down to the deck. I heard him strolling along the woden deck, surey gazing around looking for me. I kept my head low, huddling closer to the family, who looked at me oddly but had no objections (I guess they thought that I had lost everything and everyone and that I just wanted to be near people). I at last dared turn my head in his direction. His face was pale, his usually sleek balck hair ruffled and out of place. His once perfect black tuxedo was tattered and torn. But his eyes were as calm as they had been this time yesterday. His eyes sugested this aweful tragedy hadn't existed. He was glaring around the deck at everyone. I cupped my face in my hands and pretended to be sobbing heavily when he looked in my direction. I was very convincing because the young woman from the family I was huddling with put a gentle arm around my shoulder. Thank God for this, it made me look one of their family.

Cal gave up and stomped back up the deck and disapeared back to the first class section, his face a mixture of fury, rage and shockingly, a hint of greif. I wondered if he had indeed loved me in his own twisted way. Could he maybe have actually cared about me in his heart? I had read some romantic novels of men controlling their wifes' lives for they were scared of losing them. I wondered if maybe... just maybe... could Cal be one of those men? I thought of before Titanic when we were in Europe. He had proposed in one of the most expensive resteraunts in Paris, his eyes full of love and desire. He charmed me, flattered me, I so much as complimented a dress or peice of jewelery and he had already pulled out his perminently bulging wallet. He had treated me like royalty. Now I looked back at it, I was thoroughly releived that I hadn't become a horrid spoilt brat. Then I thought of the days leaing up to and on the Titanic. He had threataned me, controlled me, told me what to do, ordered my food for me, told me what to wear, where t go, what to do, as thought I was incapable of deciding for myelf. He'd slapped me for arguing or disobeying, never let me do what I wanted or go where I wanted and constantly predjudiced me for sex. He seemed adament on taking my virginity, but I was equally adament that he wouldn't. hank God he never would. Jack nw had my virginity and I his (I was quite surprised when I found out that he was still a virgin. I felt sure after seeing his portraits of naked women that he must have been seduced by one or two). After reliving the horrid memories of what Cal had done to me, I was now certain, Cal was a control freak who wanted me for none other reason than to show me off like a trophy. And now he assumed his prize show horse was dead. With a bit of luck I would never see him again. Good ridence.

I pulled down my blanket and lifted my hands from my face. The woman who had been comforting me look puzzled when I emerged dry eyed but still looked at me kindly. I smiled at her and nodded kindly in a form of goodbye. I tried saying goodbye properly but she shook her head and shrugged her shoudlers indicating that she couldn't speak English. She looked vaguely farmilier to me. She had a thin face with thick, wavy, pale blonde hair falling past her shoulders and into her sky blue eyes. She had a some what Skandanavian look about her. Her face was tear stained, the skin around her eyes slightly red. I raked my brain and suddenly thought of someone. No, it couldn't be, could it? I decided to ask her as best I could. "Helga? Helga Dahl?", I said clearly, pointing to her. Amazngly, she nodded, puzzled. I then pinted to my cest and said "Rose. Rose Dawson", I said, enphesising my faked last name. I used Jack's name hoping she's make a link between him and me. She had known Jack though Fabrizio. Her eyes widened. She pointed at me and then said "You, Rose Dawson. Know Jack Dawson?", she said slowly, raking her brain for the little Englsh she knew. I nodded eagerly. "Fabrizio?", I asked her. I'd hoped to find Fabrizio. If he was alive he had a right to know about his closest friend's death. However, at the mention of his name, Helga broke into tears. I crouched behind her and put my arms around her. "Don't... know", she stammered. Suddenly, I felt someone touch me from behind. I turned my head around o see Helga's mother, an older version of her daughter with grey eyes. She asked me something, shockingly, in French. I was sure they was Skandanavian! I understood what she'd asked. _Do you know my daughter? _I had been taught French at finishing school in France and was fluent.

I replied_ Yes, my husband's friend Fabrizio was her lover, am I right? _

She nodded sadly and said _True, true. The Itallian man. We don't know where he is, this makes my daughter very sad. _

I told her sadly _I lost my husband also. They were great friends._ She nodded sadly.

_I am sorry. Many people died, my husband also. Helga, I and my sister were in a boat._ We talked a little and soon Helga stopped crying. When she saw I spoke French, she asked me

_Have you seen Fabrizio? Do you know where he is?_ It broke my heart to say

_No, I don't. I'm sorry I haven't seen him._ She cried a fresh flow of tears then and all I could do was comfort her as best I could.

I sudenly felt someone tap me sftly on the shoulder. It was a customs officer, carrying a clipboard and pen. He asked me softly "Can I hve your name please?" I had already given my name twice already, to two differant customs oficers. It semed that theyw ere taking down lists every day, updating them again and again with each new survivor discovored. As I had done twice before, I said, "Dawson. Rose Dawson" I was 100% sure of my name choice. I had taken Jack's surname for two main reasons. One was because I didn't want Cal and Mother to discovour my survival. If they did, I would be hunted down and forced into a loveless maridge with _him._ I couldn't let that happen. Jack had died to save my life and freedom. To give up and go back to a life of inprisonment would be dishonoring his memory. The second reason was also becuase of Jack. He was the one man I truly loved with all my heart. I had said to him, moments before the iceberg hit, that I would leave the ship with him. I was willing to give up everything I had and knew for this one man, I loved him so much. I was ready to marry him when he was cruelly taken from me. I decided to take his name as proof of our everlasting love. I was sure I would never love again, any one besides Jack Dawson. This was why I had told Helga's mother he was my husband, because in my heart, he was.

So I told the officer I was Rose Dawson and in my heart, I was. I was no longer Rose DeWitt Buckator, she died with the Titanic. After all, can you exchange one life for another? A caterpiller changes into a butterfly. If a mindless insect could do it, why couldn't I? I was a new person, I was young and free to do whatever I wanted with my life. And one thing was certain, Rose Dawson would not waste her life, she would make each day count.


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: OK, I know this and Chapter 2 are shorter than Chaper 1 but that's because I ran out of ideas. I promise you they will get longer! It's just that I can't do much with the characters when they are trapped on a ship. Once they reach dry land, I will let them free to make up storylines and plots a-pleanty! Seriouly, guys, I will! Please reveiw, I love to hear what you guys think and appriciate comments or tips. Feel free to criticise if you want, it all helps me make the story better!**

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Molly's POV

I left the ships's infirmary wondering how I was going complete this impossible task. To ind someone on a ship where nobody knew who was alive or dead seemed impossible, especially when the said person could have a forged sirname. Nevertheless, I was willing to try. I knew Rose was unhapy in first class and that she and Jack were in love and I was more than willing to help them reunite, if that was possible.

I first decided to check the updated version of the list. I asked a steward if he had it and by chance, he had the most updated version, just finished an hour ago. I scanned all three classes and sure enough, Rose Dawson was still alive, Rose DeWitt Buckator, dead. I thanked the steward and handed the list back to him. I knew Rose wasn't in first class, I'd already chekced every nook and cranny of the first class area and had even breifly scanned second class but with no luck. Now I was determined to turn this ship upside down (metaphoricly, of course) in order to discovour if the sweet, spirited Rose was alive.

Rose Dawson was listed under rd class so I headed to the decks where the 3rd class passengers were staying. The 1st class passengers had luxury suites, 2nd had standard cabins and 3rd class had to make do on the decks. I was annoyed by this as I was one of the few upper-class people who cared for the wellbeing of lower-class people. I didn't care about class or social standing. I liked having money, I admitt, I loved being rich but I also wasn't selfish or unkind. I cared about others, looking beyond riches and into the deeper person inside. Anyway, I walked down to the 3rd class decks and was approached by a steward. "Ma'am, may I be of any asisstance to you?", he asked politely. I smiled and said,

"Why, yes you can, sonny. Do you by any chance know if there is a Rose Dawson down there?", I asked, nodding down to the large crowd of third class passengers. He said that he didn't but said I was wecme to go and look. I said thank you and he let me pass.

Dear goodness, what a sight it was down there. It was an image of onl misery and grief, as if all things good and happy had been banished for all enternity. It brught tears to my eyes as I walked past a woman tearfully trying to explain to her two daughters why their father wasn't with them. I wanted to run away from this dreadful scene but forced myself onwards, I had to find Rose Dawson, whoever she was. I tried asking a few women who didn't look too grei stricken but to no anvil. I scanned the deck, looking for someone I didn't even know existed. I felt my stomach flip when I saw a little group of women.

3 blondes all wrapped in shawls I had seen a lot of in Paris- and a woman with a plaid blanket wrapped loosly over her head as though she didn't want to be recognised. However, a few dark auburn red curls were blowing in the light wind around her shoulders. I knew then without a doubt, that the woman was Rose DeWitt Buckator. I ran over to her and tapped her on the shoulders. She jumped and turned her head, a terrified look on her face. She smiled widely when she saw it was me. "Molly!", she screamed in delight. I hugged her tight and said "Oh my God, Rose, you're alive!" She rested her head on my shoulder and I could feel her starting to cry. I held her tightly and she pulled away and said, "Oh, Molly, you don't know how lucky I am t be alive!" I looked her in the eye and said calmly "Rose, I know exactly how lucky you are to survive. I know exactly what happened after you ran away from the boat" She stared at me, wide-eyed.

"Y-You can't", she stammered in dis-beleif. "You can't possibly know. How can you know, Molly?"

I smiled and said, "All in good time, love" She suddenly looked panicy.

"Molly, did you come to take me back to 1st class? Please, you can't, I can't go back there, I won't go back there!", she gabbled, her old stubborn self returning. I gave a small laugh.

"Rose, on the contrary, the reason I am here is a completely differant one. Come with me. I promise I won't take you anywhere near 1st class. Not now I know what _he's_ been up to lately" She stared at me, even more shocked.

"You mean you know about Cal?" I nodded.

"Every detail" She shook her head.

"But you can't know! You were on the lifeboat, I saw you! Unless you could somehow see me on the ship there's no other way you could know. Well, the only other way you could know without hearing it from me is-" She cut herself off, tears forning in her emerald eyes again. She began to sob. I put my arms around her comfortingly.

"Rose", I urged. "That's exactly why I came to find you! Jack isn't dead, he's alive and on this very ship!" She stared at me in shock. She shook her head in disbeleif.

"No, he can't be!", she said determindly. "I saw him! I was there when he died! I saw him sink underwater, there's no way he could be alive! Molly, are you sure it's him?" I nodded my head determindly.

"Rose, it is true as I am standing here. It is no mistake, Jack Dawson is alive!" Before she could say anything, I grabbed her arm and pulled her in the direction of the infirmary. The steward at the top of the gates said something about 3rd class passengers not being allowed beyond this point but I firmly told him she was with me. "And you should be doing something to help those poor souls down there. They've gone through Hell and back this past night and you could do something other than stand there like a lemon", I added with a scowl. Rose smiled at my firey response, in awe, almost.

I dragged her through the long corridors to the infirmary. She broke free as soon as we walked through he door and she saw Jack.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Yes, another short chapter, I know! But remember, I can't do a lot with them whilst they are trapped on Carpathia. Wait until the ship docks then they will get longer, that is a promise! And I promise I won't abandon this story halfway through, I love writing and cant stand to see a half-finished story! Reveiw please, I love hearing what you guys think and appreciate tips and feel free to criticise, it all helps!**

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Rose's POV

I followed Molly through the ship in disbeleif. How could Jack be alive? I had seen his body sink to the bottom of the sea, there was n way he could've survived without freezing or drowning. Yet Molly seemed so certain. I let her pull me along the corridors of the ship. It was nowhere near as grand as the Titanic but it was a very nice ship nonetheless. I knew it couldn't be true, but I still couldn't help hoping that Molly's word was true. Maybe Jack was alive? But what if Molly had made a mistake? The boat had rowed off with me in it, not him. Could another have come back and found Jack? No, I told myself firmly, he was dead and at the bottom of the ocean, I'd seen it with my own eyes. Molly had simply made a mistake.

Molly meanwhile had dragged me through the whole ship, and eventually we ended up outside the ship's infirmary. She opened the door and I felt my heart skip a beat. I broke free of Molly's grasp and ran towards him. My one and only true love, Jack. He was here, he was alive.

I ran towards his bed and threw my arms around him, not caring that he wasn't even awake. I hugged him tight, tears falling down my eyes. I buried my head into his shoulder, muttering, "Oh my God, you're alive! Oh my God.." and stuff like that. He suddenly squirmed in my arms and groaned, he was waking up. I leaned back and unwound my arms from him. I sat down beside him and watched him wake up. I was afraid to blink incase I was imagining it. The man I loved, who I had lost in the freezing Atlantic, was alive. I blinked hard, bracing myself for it all to disapear, but when I opened my eyes, he was still there. He slowly opened his bright blue eyes and blinked hard when he saw me. He had clearly thought me dead too. I smiled at him and heshook his head, as if trying to wake up.

"R-Rose?", he asked, his voice a bit wobbly. I couldn't help tears of joy falling from my eyes.

"Oh, Jack", I sobbed. "I thought you were dead!" He lifted his arm and brushed my hair out of my eyes, trying to comfort me.

"I thought you were too", he said, his voice more steady as his body woke up. "Molly checked the list for me and it said Rose DeWitt Buckator was dead. But then when In saw the name Rose Dawson I thought it might just be you" I was touched at how he had tried so hard to find me. I felt ashamed to think that I'd simply given up all hope. I felt so unloyal to have just given up on him. I cried harder at th thought.

"Oh, I'm so stupid!", I shouted at myself. "I didn't bother looking for you, I just gave up all hope, you must hate me now" I lowered my head. He lifted it again with his hand and made me look into his bright sapphire blue eyes. I couldn't help but feel myself go into a trance, looking into those beautiful eyes.

"Rose", he said firmly. "Don't be so stupid. Of course I still love you. I love you with all my heart and I always will. You saw me sink into the ocean, of course you thought I was dead and I don't blame you. Just remember that I still love you from the bottom of my heart and I always will, forever"

I smiled at him and said in a shaky voice, "I love you too, Jack, forever" We both leaned forward and kissed. We out our arms around eachother and hugged tightly. I felt that one o his wrists felt differant to the other and pulled away to look at it. It was wrapped in thick bandaged with a small plastic hole in the middle. "What's that? What did you do to your wrist?", I enquired.

"Oh, that's just for when they inject fluids and stuff. By the way, what time is it?"

I was a bit confused about why he wanted to know the time but said anyway, "Just gone twelve, why?" He slumped back onto the pillows and sighed.

"Oh God, here we go again", he muttered, closing his eyes. I was confused now.

"What do you mean, Jack?"

"Any minute now, they're gonna come and make me take that damned medicine" I couldn't help but roll my eyes.

"Jack, that "damned medicine" is to help you get better"

"It tastes so horrible I can barely swallow it and it mkaes me feel sick and drousy", he whined.

"Jack, those are just side effects. Beleive it or not, it's to help you. Think of it like this, if you take the medicine, the sooner you'll get better and the sooner we can start our lives togeather" He looked at me, smiling.

"So you're sure you want to be with me? Remember Rose, this is a big step you're taking. You're giving up riches, jewels, nice clothes, food, a certainty of a warm bed to sleep in. Remember that i's not always fun and games being poor, it can sometimes be hard and testing. I'm just saying that if you want to go back to Cal now, I won't make you stay or hate you for it" I reached out and held his hand tightly.

"Jack, I've made my desicion and I don't regret it one bit. I'm the happiest I've ever been in my whole life when I'm with you. I know what I'm giving up and what I'm taking on and I know that all I want is you" He squezed my hand back and simply smiled at me adoringly.

"Oh, God I love you, Rose", he breathed.

"I love you too. I can't wait to start our life togeather! Where will we go? The only other person I know in New York is my Grandma, Thelma. Who is an exact replica of my mother, inside and out, if my memory recalls" Jack thought for a moment, his blue eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Well, all the people I know are in Chippewa Falls. My parents are dead, like said and I can't be sure we;ll have a place to stay there. There's only one bording house for the whole village and it's not always got a free room. There's one think I know and that's that I'm not having you sleep on the streets. I make it sound like a cosy camping trip but it's not. It's dangerous. I had two close calls when I was in Paris and there is no way I'm gonna put you through that, full stop" I was touched by his care for me and determination to keep me safe. I raked my brains for anyone, _anyone_ I knew who could offer us a roof over our heads. Nothing.

Mother hadn't allowed me to choose my own freinds, she knew I would go for the ones she didn't approve of. The poor ones, the spirited ones, the unladylike ones, the common ones. She had chosen for me, had arranged fancy tea parties with her freinds' daughters, snobby, upper-class girs in fancy frocks who gossiped about who was doing what and how it shamed their families; an exact image of their mothers. I had stuck through it all but had secretely snuck out to the stables and had struck up a freindship with the stable boy, Nathan Calvert. I heard alarm bells ringing inside my head when I thought of him. Nathan Calvert! That's it! He would never turn his childhood freind away. He and I had been inseperable since we were young. When Mother and I had travelled to Europe, Nathan and I had secretly exchanged adresses and kept in touch, informing eachother with regular letters. I had a very close freindship with Nathan but we felt nothing more than that for eachother. We were very close freinds but hadn't thought about becoming anything more than that. That did worry me where I thought of Nathan. What would Jack think? I loved Jack dearly and I hoped her would understand that Nathan and I were childhood friends and wanted nothing more than that. I prayed that the love of my life would understand how I felt about my one and only true friend.


	5. Chapter 5

Jack's POV

I couldn't beleive it! Rose, my beautiful, sweet, spirited Rose, was alive! I as overcome with joy at the feel of her body, the feel of her soft red curls, the fee of her lips on mine. We talked about here we were going to go after the ship docked but we had no idea where. I was relutant to take Rose back to Chippewa Falls with me, I didn't want to relive the memories it held. But we were fast running out of options so maybe I didn't have a choice.

I could see Rose had something on her mind as we discussed, or maybe some_one. _I decided to play the truth card.

"Rose? What's wrong? You look kinda worried"

She hesitated slightly but said, "Jack, I think I know someone who'll take us in" I was more curious now. I'd alays been told I was too curious for my own good. In fact, the christmas when I was 7, I'd snuck around the whole house and eventually found the christmas presents on christmas eve. Unfortunatly, my mother found me looking. Guess the rest...

"Who? who is it?", I inquired.

She gulped and said, "A friend of mine from when I was a child, well, my only friend. My one truest friend in the world." she took a deep breath and said "His name is Nathan Calvert" I felt a bit surprised that her one truest friend was a man but I could tell she was worried by what I though. She was worried that I thought she felt more feeling for him than just friendship. I decided to confirm my suspitions.

"Rose,are you afraid by what I think of this Nathan Calvert?", I asked. She looked a bit awkward.

"Yes", she muttered. Then she looked into my eyes and said, almost begging, "Jack, please understand that I don't feel love for Nathan, he's just a very good friend to me. You're the only one I love. I _do_ love Nathan but not in the same way. He was my only friend growing up and I love him more like a brother than anything. Please understand me Jack" I gave her a reassuring smile.

I held her hand tightly and said, "Rose, I beleive you. If you say that's all you feel for Nathan then I beleive you. I'm not Cal, I won't accuse you of anything like that. So, what's he like?" She smiled at my understanding and seemed happy to talk about him.

She told me of how she would sneak out of the hosue and go down to the stabled with him. She'd help him with the horses, explore the grounds, climb trees, play cowboys and indians ith sticks as guns. She told me ho he'd even snuck out with her in the middle of the night and they'd secretly ridden her favorite horse, Silver, togeather. She told me how they'd lie on the grass togeather looking at the stars and he'd point out all the constolations he knew. I was happy to hear that dispite her sheltered, rich, adult life, she'd had a happy childhood. She asked me about my childhood so I told her.

I told her that me and my parents lived on a small farm in Chippewa Falls. I'd learnt to ride horses there, my father had taught me. I didn't have my own horse, but we owned 4 and I favoured one, Thunder, whom I'd named because he was born during a huge midnight thrunderstorm that made me bury my head under my pillow trying to block out the noise. I'd ridden Thunder through all the feilds I could find but was forbidden to ride him into town after the time I'd decided to show off to my friends by galloping through the saturday market. My parents were furious and I wasn't allowed to ride for the rest of the month. I told her about when I decided to experiment with gravity after collecting the eggs, swinging the whole basket upside down. The result: we were without eggs for a week and I lost Thunder for another week. I told her about the pranks me and my friend, Joey had played on our teacher at school, Mr Henderson. Which resulted in a lot of detention for both of us and a very sore backside (Mr Henderson was very fodn of his cane!). Dad was always saying I didn't have a hope in Hell at getting into grammar school if I didn't shape up. My parents wanted me to go to grammar school and get good degrees but I had other ideas. I spent less time on my schoolwork and more time trying to impress my classmates. I had to ork hard to impress them because Mr Henderson often chose my scruffy work as a shining example of how not to do the work. Halfway through the lesson, he'd peer over my shoulder and swipe my book. He stand up in front of the class and state, "Please, everyone, do not copy Jack Dawson and make your work as untiddy as possible!" which woud result in a lot of teasing. Mr Hnederson would then rip the paper in half and I'd have to start all over again. Well, I think he deserved to have "total idiot" taped to his back and his shoes to be filled with custard stolen from the dinner hall. Problem was, he'd conned onto who was doing the pranks and would go bright red in the face and yell "DAWSON!!" as if my name were the foulest swearword ever to be spoken. I'd look up at him innocently and say in my most polite voice "Yes, sir?" And then... wollop! I'd go home bent double in pain.

Rose was in tears of laughter when I'd finished. I was nearly in tears two. Because it was so funny thinking back and because it made me think of how I missed everything. I missed my parents, I missed Joey, I missed Thunder, heck, I even missed Mr Henderson (never dreamed I'd say that!). Rose saw this and quickly changed the subject by telling me all the things she'd got up to in finishing school.

She'd been bullied by all the posh snobs who saw she wasn't one of them. But she was no push over and had pured oatmeal all over one of them, Penelope Hillsbury. She'd been furious and had told the head mistress, Madame Delecourde. Rose had been severely told off and had to write "I must not behave in an unladylike manor" 300 times. This made me laugh because I could just imagine firey Rose doing such a thing. She told me how she'd wrote frequent letters to Nathan and how he'd written back, sympothising with her. I'd found her tales of defying the rules of finishing school amusing, I was especially amused by the time she'd snuck into the main hall in the dead of night and written a very rude essay about the headmistress on the huge chalkboard, on display for all to read until the caretaker cleaned it off. I couldn't beleive how rebellious she was. I knew she was spirited and was never someone to be judged but the thought of her doing something so sneaky was hilarious. I could see why Ruth was so desperate to marry her off to a rich man who would finally make an honest lady out of her. Ha! Break my Rose's spirit? Impossible!

We chatted about eachother's childhoods for a while until the nurse finally came with the all too familiar bottle of medicine. I sunk down lower into the bed, trying my best to avoid it but it was useless. My stomach screamed in protest when she poured the sickly yellow liquid onto the spoon. Rose looked a bit uneasy looking at it but at least she didn't have to swallow it. I thought about what Rose said earlier. If I take it, the sooner we'll be able to start our lives togeather. With that thought on my mind, I willingly sat up again when the nurse told me. I took the spoon from her and tipped it down my throat quick, trying not to think about the taste. I swallowed it quick and a searing pain stung my throat. Just when I'd got over the sickening taste, I had to endure it all over again. 2 spoonfuls every 4 hours, I'd worked out. The nurse screwed the top back on the bottle and left, leaving me feeling like I was going to throw up. I reached for the glass of water on the table next to my bed and gulped down the whole glass, washing away the dreadful taste. When I'd finished every drop, I gasped and said "Thank God for that" Rose looked a bit uneasy after seeing just how horrible the stuff I had to take was but stood by what she said earlier.

"Well, at least it's helping you get better", she said. I guess she had a point. It wasn't over yet though, I still had to have an injection too. Right on que, the nurse came back with a saringe full of clear liquid. Knowing what to do, I extended my bandaged wrist and she pushed the saringe into the plastic opening. I closed my eyes tight, trying to block out the feeling of the fluid enter my body. It was over in seconds but the drugs always made me feel dizzy, weak and drousy. I laid my head down on the pillows and my vision gradually went a bit blury. Rose could see I needed to sleep and said she had to send a telegram to Nathan. "Even if he is my best friend, I need to ask if it's OK for us to stay. He's got a wife, Matilda and a daughter, Lucy. It should be fine though, he wouldn't just turn us away", she explained. She stayed until I was asleep, I could feel her hand stroking my hair. She left just before I drifted off, imagining what the rest of our lives would be like.


	6. Chapter 6

Rose's POV

I left the infirmary once Jack was asleep and headed for the telegram room. There was a long queue of people wanting to send telgrams so I had no choice but to stick it out and wait. I mist have waited for about half an hours before I finally got to the telegram room. I took a form from the pile and wrote out what I wanted to send. "Nathan. It's Rose. Can me and someone stay at yours for a while? Long story, sorry. Will explain when we get there. Nowhere else to go. Again, long story, sorry. See you soon. Rose." I handed it over to the transmitter and he counted up the charge. That'll be $1 please, Miss", he said. I fumbled in my water stained pocket and found a one dollar coin. Officer Lowe had taken pity on me after I told him I had lost everything and everyone and he had given me a small handfull of coins. Such a selfless man. The only one to take his boat back to get survivours. I had been rescued and transferred to another boat so Lowe could go back one last time with a fresh team of rowers. Thank God he did or I really would be alone!

I left the telegram office and decided to take a walk around the deck. I was halfway to the bow when a very excited Helga came running up to me with the last person I expected to see, Fabrizio! He was alive! They came running up to me, Helga shouting "Rose! Rose! Fabrizio is alive! My love is alive!", in French of course, Fabrizio shouting "Rose! Ah, you have lived also! This is good!"

I hugged them both and said to Fabrizio, "How did you survive?"

"Ah, is lucky I am here, bella Rosa. I manage it climb on top of an upturned lifeboat as it was swept off of the ship and very nearly had a large funnel land on me. Must hurt a lot, no?" Then his eyes darkened. "Ah, I just wish my best friend would be here to celebrate the living too. I am sure her is not surviving. He is on no list. I check many times" I smiled, delighted to be the one to tell him the news.

"Fabri, Jack isn't dead, he's alive! He's alive, Fabri!", I shouted. He looked at me, smiled and gave a loud cheer, picking up Helga and hugging her tight.

"Bellisima! The lord above us has spared me my friend! Grazzi!" He looked at me. "Where is he, bella Rosa? Why is he not here if he is living?"

"He's in the infirmary and I think he has been since we got here. He's got severe hypothermia but the doctor says he should be alright in a week or so"

"Ah, that is good news. He shall be alright. But how did you survive? I go to the deck and the lifeboat I am on is the last and you are not on it"

I explained the whole story, about riding the ship down to the end of it's life, finding the debris and Jack making me get on it. "Ah, he was always noble even when we meet when he was 16", Fabri said. I told him about the boat coming bac and thinking Jack was dead. I didn't feel good about telling Fabri this incase he thought I had just allowed his best friend to die but he didn't look angry. I told him about Molly finding me with Helga and taking me to ack wh told me how he had lived. Fabri was nearly in tears when I finished and, after I explained it in French, so did Helga.

"Can we see him? I have not seen my friend since I think him dead", asked Fabri. I shook my head.

"Well, not yet. He was sleeping when I left and the drugs they give him make him feel drousy and weak" Fabri nodded understandingly.  
"Ah yes, we see him later, no?" I nooded my head. I explained to Helga too, who had asked me the same thing. Fabri shook his head a little.

"Ah, this is awkeward. I love Helga with my life and yet I cannot speak to her. She knows my name and that I love her, no more. I hate it. She speak French, non English nor Italiano. I no speak French too"

"Well, I could try and teach her some English and I know a place in New York where she can learn for free" Fabri looked grateful for my help.

"Ah yes, that would be good. Thank you, sweet, bella Rosa, you are a good friend" He hugged me and I hugged him back. I explained to Helga and she nodded enthusiasticly. She said she very much wanted to learn English. Fabri decided to go and get us somehing for lunch so I stayed with Hela and got right down to English lessons.

I first taught her how to say simple words like yes, no, please, thank you, hello, goodbye, which she caught onto quite quickly. For someone who'd only spoke French all her life, she grasped onto our language quite quickly. I hoped she would be able to speak fluent English before long.

Fabrizio came back with tea and sandwitches a few minutes later. By this time, Helga could say a simple sentance in English very well. She said it over and over until she could say it perfectly. When she saw Fabri, she ran up to him and said excitedly, "Hello, my name is Helga Dahl"

"So, where are you and Helga headed when the ship docks?", I asked.

"Well, we stay in New York for Helga to learn English like you said and then we hope t moe to Florida I wish to return to the heat and Helga too, Norway is always cold"

"Thant's nice. I went there for a holiday when I was 13, it's beautiful, not that I had the chance to enjoy it" Fabri raised his eyebrows.

"Why is that? Did you not stay long enough?"

"Well, no it wasn't that. I went with my mother and she just wanted to go to galas and parties and such so I didn't even get to set fot on the sand. I asked her and she just said that beaches were filthy and infested with animals. She hates anything that isn't classy, you see" Fabri nodded understandingly.

"Ah, you family is rich, no?" I nodded.

"In fact, Mother went so far as to arrange my own wedding, forcing me to marry Caledon Hockley" Fabri nearly chocked on his tea.

"Did you say Caledon Hockley", he asked.

"Yes, why? Have you heard of him?" Fabri stap on the ground angrliy.

"Do I know him? I spit on the name of his family for what they did to mine! Caledon Hockley is a bastardo!" And he starting raving in Itallian. When he finally calmed down, he explained. "He forced my family out of the farm we owned and built a steel factory on our land. He is a heartless bastardo!" I couldn't beleive my ears. How could thr Hockleys be so cruel? I knew they were cold-hearted but I didn't know they'd go so far as to force a family out of their home and built a steel factory on it.

"I didn't know he'd go that far", I said, shocked. "He was always building new factories and investing more and more money into his buisness but I didn't know he was so heartless. And I nearly married the son of a bitch!"

"What was he like to you? I cannot imagine him to be a loving fiancee" I sighed.

"Yes he was horrible. He was controlling, selfish, obnoxious and he hit me a lot of times and pressured me for sex a lot" Fabri looked shocked.

"He hit you? That is bad enough but I cannot understand how e can ask for sex from you! How could any foul demon do this to you, bella Rosa?!" I was touched by how concerned he was for me.

"Well, that's the evil heartless guy he is. And that's not all he did..." And I told Fabri the whole stroy about the Titanic, how Cal ahd tried to keep me and Jack apart, how he'd framed Jack for the theft of the Heart of the Ocean, how he'd chased us around the ship like a manic and how he'd tried to bribe his way onto a boat. Fabri had more details to tell me.

"He was so evil, is true, but he did more, Rose. He bribe his way onto a boat with a ittle child and when the boat was swept away, he try to push people off with a oar, when so many were dying, me included, it makes me shake with rage, he would not even let women and children onto the boat" Ineed, Fabi had clenched his fists and was shaking with rage.

He suddenly noticed the coat I was wearing. "Rose, that coat is not yours? It is a man's coat, no?" I hadn't gien the coat a second thought since boarding the Carpathia. I looked down at it and remembered who it belonged to. I took it off and threw it on the floor. It made a unexpected bump against the wood, like something was inside it, and the rustle of paper. I bent down ad looked inside the pockets curiously. I pulled out... the Heart of the Ocean. I gasped in surprise. So did Helga and Fabri dropped is sandwitch.

"Oh my God", I gasped. Cal's most valuabe posession was resting in the palm of my hand. I looked in the other pockets and found large bundles of crisp banknotes I emptied all the pockets and found a total of around $10,000. I stuffed the money back in the coat and sat back down on the bench.

"Wow" was Fabri's gobsmacked response. I was speechless but eventually managed to say,

"I guess Cal kept the money for bribery. Or maybe he wanted to smuggle it off the ship so he wouldn't lose any money. There's about $10,000 here and the diamond is woreth millions"

"Well, Rose, you sell that and you be rich for life. Live in big house, have expensive things all your life" I shook my head.

"No, Fabri. I've lived that life since I was born and it's not all glittery clothes and big houses. It's a hard life. You are always expected to behave properly an you can't do anything you want. No, I've left that life for good" Fabri smiled.

"Wise move. A beauty and a good brain. Jack is a lucky guy" I smiled. Then I took out half of the bundles of notes. I dropped the lot into Fabri's lap. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"No, no, I cannot take your money, it is yours" he protested.

"No, Fabri. I want you to have some of it for you and Helga so you can have a good life. That's more than enough to get you to Florida and buy you a small house. There's still more enough for me and Jack. And he'd want you to have it too" Fabri opened his mouth to protest but I held up my hand.

"No arguments" I said firmly. "Think of it as a gift" He gave up and put the money in his pockets.

"Jack picked very wisely. You are beautiful, smart, kind and giving. Thank you, bella Rosa" he said, smiling at me. I glowed with pride. No one had ever compimented me like that. My father had said the occasional compliment but he was always travelling and I never really saw much of him. I know he loved me dearly though, not like Mother. Mother had always showered me with scorn, forever telling me to smarten myself up or act like a lady. The only compliments I got from her were about the clothes I wore, which she had purchased. I had never been told anything so good about myself as the way Fabri had said before.

We chatted for a while more until it was nearly sunset. Fabri told me about his home in Italy, his family and how he had met Jack. He told me about travelling all over Europe with him, Paris, just over the Spanish border, Holland, before crossing the channel to Southhampton. Jack had promised to take Fabri to America, a lifelong dream of his. He told me how Jack ahd won the poker game and how hey had only just boarded the ship before it left the dock.

I laughed at most of the details of their adventures and wished I could have experienced a life like that. Maybe I would. Jack had said we would go to Santa Monica someday to ride horses on the beach, ride the rollercoaster, drink cheap beer, and spit like a man. I smiled at the memories of spitting off the side of the promenade deck. I couldn't wait to live a life like that. I thought of other places we could go. I wondered if Jack would want to go back the Chippewa Falls, his hometown. Surely he had friends there who he hadn't seen since he left? Maybe he wanted to go and see them one day. I was interested in seeing the place, what it was like. As night fell, the three of us settled down on the deck for the evening. We all had a blanket each and managed to make a cosy spot for ourselves. I slept that night peacefully, the melodic music of the waves echoing in my ears.

***

I awoke the next morning to a beautiful sunrise. It was the day we were due to dock on New York and if I looked closely into the horrizon. I could see the faint outline of land. We wouldn't dock until mid-day but it looked so close and so beautiful in the golden sunrise. I streched and yawned, waking myself up to face the day ahead.

Opsite me, Helga had just woken up and was smiling at me.

"Good morning, Helga", I said, testing her memory to see if she remembered her English lesson. She narrowed her eyes and raked her brain and eventually said,

"Morning good, Rose" I said well done, in French but told her she had said it bck to front. She gave an embarressed giggle that woke Fabrizio next to her.

"Good morning Rose", he yawned. "Ah, what a beautiful sunrise, no?"

I went off to get some breakfast for us. I went to the canteen and collected a stack of toast and 3 cups of tea. I carried the lot in my arms to the deck and put it all on the floor, where we all picnicked on on the food. We slouched around the deck for a couple of hours after that, a little board, or sometimes we strolled over to the rail and admired the ocean and the steadily aproaching black buildings on the horrizon.

At around 9, we decided to go to the infirmary and see Jack. On the way there, I ran into Molly, who I imediately gave a huge hug. She laughed when I threw my arms around her.

"Aw, Rose, what was that for?", she said.

"For everything", I said. "If it weren't for you, I'd still be believing that Jack was dead and we wouldn't be togeather"

"Aw, darlin' , that was nothing. You two were meant to be togeather. Say, where are you headed when the ship docks? You can always stay with me in Denver if you need?" I shook my head.

"Thanks, but no thanks, Molly. We're going to stay with a friend of mine, Nathan, just outside New York" Molly nodded.

"That's good. Well, I better be getting back to first class now, get myself ready to dock. Oh and-" she leaned closer to me. "Your mother and Cal, I didn't tell them you survived, would you like it to stay that way or shall I tell them?" I shook my head violently.

"No Molly", I said firmly. "Please don't tell them. I if they know it will ruin everything. Cal will take me away and Mother won' exactly pull him off of me" Molly gave me an understanding nod.

"Alright, darlin', I won't tell em if you don't want me to. But your mother is really torn up right now, about you supposedly dying and all. If you change your mind, she's stayin with me for the meantime so give me a bell if you need me or anything. Here's my card" She handed me a small white card with a telephone number written in italic letters on it. I gave her one last hug and we said goodbye and parted ways.

We walked along to the infirmary and walked into the hospital like room. Jack was half asleep when we arrived but immediatly was wide awake when he was Fabrizio. He looekd just as shocked as when he'd seen me. "Fabrizio!", he shouted when he was his best freind.

"Jack! It is true! You are alive!", Fabrizio shouted, running over to Jack. They embraced tightly, overjoyed that they had both survived.

"How did you survive?", Jack asked.

"Ah, is a lucky tale. I escape on an overtunred lifeboat, the last to leave the ship. But your tale is luckier, no? Rose tells me of how you two ended up in the water."

"Yeah, I guess it was lucky. Except the hypothermia" I walked over and sat beside Fabri.

"Speaking of witch, how are you feeling?", I asked.

"Not to bad. It should be gone in about a week now. I can stand and walk pretty much now"

"Great! I sent a telegram to Nathan so he know's we're coming. The ship should dock about mid-day. You can see the city on the horizon already" Right on que, the ship's horn gave an almighty blast to signal that we were on our way into the dock. Fabrizio smiled delightedly.

"Ah yes! I make it to America, just like I always dream. Belissima!"

"Where'll you go?", asked Jack.

"Helga and I stay in New York for her to learn English and then we go to Florida. We wish to be in the sun and warm"

"Great, but where'll you get the money for it?" Fabri looked at me and smiled.

"I better explain that", I laughed, pulling a couple of stacks of bills out of the coat. Jack stared at them as though the money was completely alien.

"Where the Hell did you get that?!", he asked in a bewildered voice.

"A present from our dearest Cal. Along with this", I said, pulling the Heart of the Ocean from my pocket.

"And he gave you that, did he?"

"Well, no. You remember when he put the coat on me, the money and necklace were in there. I guess he forget where he put it all. There was a lot more than this but I made Fabri take half f it for him and Helga.

"Yes, she did", said Fabri. "Your Rose was very firm, woud not let me refuse it"

"This is great! We've got enough money to start out with!"

"Yeah, we have. But I don't want to be rich anymore. I don't want to live in a huge house with lots of money and jewelery. I've had enough of that to last a lifetime", I explained. Jack smiled.

"Well, that's actually a relief 'cause I don't want that life either. I was actually kinda worried you'd get tired of low-class life and go back to Cal"

"Jack, how many times have I said this? I don't want Cal. He made my life Hell. I'm much happier with you" Before Jack could respond, Fabrzio interupted us.

"Sorry to break up your little chat but the ship is docking in a few minutes"

Sure enough, the ship was noticably slowing down. Fabrizio and Helga ran outside and leaned over the side of the ship, eager to catch their first glance of America. "We have made it!", Fabri said delightedly, hugging Helga and kissing her. It was touching to see how much he loves her, even if they couldn't understand one another.

I stepped outside too and looked glanced at the oncoming land ahead. I thought back to the 10th of April, mearly a week ago. I had planned t return to my homeland locked in a forced marridge, facing a life of torture being Mrs Rose Hockley. Well, how differant could things be?! I was returning to my homeland happy. Happy to be free and with a man I loved, and who loved me, not a man who would treat me like a prized show horse. I was approaching a new life of oppertunities and the chance to do anything I liked with my life. I could hardly wait.

When the ship docked a few minutes ater, Fabrizio and Helga raced to the rails to get off the ship as soon as possible to step on American soil. The first class people and second class went off first and third class went last. Fabri and Helga were among the first to leave the ship and were just about the only two there who were smiling.

Once all the other passengers were off, the infirmary was cleared out. Those who were still two weak were taken to nearby hospitals but most, including Jack, were strong enough to leave. He was still a little wobbly on his legs at first but was soon walking fine. Fabri and Helga had waited for us by the side of the dock when we left the ship, huge grins on their faces. I couldn't help but grin myself. I was back home, in a country of endless freedom.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack's POV

I breathed in deeply, smelling the salty sea air of the American coast. I was back home. After 5 years away, I had been everywhere, seen everything, experienced and been through so much, but nothing compared to the joy of being home again. Rose seemed happy to be back too, which I coudn't quite understand and, as far as I knew, she hadn't been very happy in this country. Nevertheless, she looked happy to be here.

Luckily, the reporters had cleared off, running after the rich and famous to be for interveiws, statements and to beg for photos. They didn't want anything to do with us lowley 3rd class people, which was a good thing. The last thing we needed was Cal spotting a photo of me or Rose in the paper and somehow tracking us down. Fortunately, he too, was nowhere in sight, nor was Ruth. They must've left for the hotel the White Star Line was putting survivours up in for the next few ngihts, free of charge.

Fabrizio and Helga were standing over by the sde of the pavement, waving at us, huge grins on their faces. They were both cleary overjoyed to have made it to America. We went over to them.

"So, how d'you like America?", I asked Fabri.

"Belissima!", he shouted, throwing his arms in the air in a very Itallian way. I laughed.

"So, where are you guys headed?"

"We stay in the city fr Helga to learn English. We will stay in the free hotel from the White Star Line but we will then move to Florida. We both wish to live in the sun. It' thanks to your Rose that we can. She gave us the money" Fabri smiled at Rose. I put my arm around her shoulder,

"Aw, it was nothing", she said. "There was more than enough for both of us anyway"

Fabri and I exchanged glances. We both knew what was coming next.

"Well, I guess this is where we part, my friend", he said sadly.

"Yeah", I repleid, equally sadly. We had been on the road togeather for nearly 4 years now. We'd travelled everywhere togeather, even been though a deadly ship wreck togather. Just parting so quickly after all we'd been thogugh seemed so, wrong. But it had to be done. We had both found love on the cursed Titanic. We had commitments now. Fabri held out his hand to me. I took it and we shook hands but we ended up embracing tightly.

"Well, goodbye, Jack"

"Goodbye, Fabri" Rose and Helga exchanged goodbyes, in French, and hugged too. Then we parted, them walking in one direction, us in the other.

Rose and I made our way through many busy streets packed with people, what seemed like hundreds of shops and department stores, until we finally arrived in the suberban part of the city. We did our best to avoid the richer parts of town, not wanting a run-in with Cal. We were successful, luckily.

Springwood Lane was nice road with rows of modest, tidy houses. Rose led the way down the road towards number 56. A few children were playing in the street, throwing balls, skipping across ropes or playing on chalked hopscotch courses. The children weren't dressed in rags, nor were they dressed in the finest clothes in New York. They were a comfortable middle-class, perfectly average. The whle street had a friendly, family vibe to it.

Rose paused outside a house that was no differant to the ones around it. A red brick building with a red slate roof and a dark red front door. A pretty, well-kept flower bed lay under the front window and the lawn was freshly cut. A small doll lay abandonned under the window and a couple of dog toys lay scattered about.

Rose walked up the garden path and knocked on the door. I followed and stood beside her. The door opened, and a man stood it in the doorway, a man who I assumed was Nathan Calvert.

He was a tall, skinny man with pale skin and freckles up and down his arms and face. His hair was thick and wavy, a dark auburn colour, and was cut about halfway down his neck. His eyes were almond shaped and a wonderful mix of every shade of blue and green possible, if only that colour could be mixed up in a paint, it would be an artist's dream. He smiled widey at us, revealing white, slightly uneven teeth.

"Rose!", he said delgihtedly when he saw her,

"Nathan!", she yelled delghtedly. They hugged one another tightly.

"Gosh, you've changed snce I last saw you!" he said, looking at her up and down.

"You've changed too", she replied. "I see the freckles never did die down then" He swatted her playfully.

"Hey! Well, I see you're still a frizzy redhead" Rose swatted him back.

"You're turning into my mother!"

"Oh gosh, that is a scary thought. Speak of the devil, where is she?" Rose's smile faded.

"Well, it's a long story, Nathan. I'll explain later. But first-" She beckoned me forward. "This is Jack Dawson, the love of my life" Nathan smiled and held out his hand. I smiled back and shook it.

"Ah, yes. Rose told me you were coming too. Right, come in then. Selina isn't in, she's gone shopping with Lucy and Rosie. She should be back soon though" I wondered who Rosie was. I friend perhaps? I dismissed the though without an answer.

We all went into the house. The living room was spacious and bright, with a light blue carpet, cream walls and a white brick fireplace. Above the fireplace was a beautiful portrait of a tropical beach. The sofa was white fabric and there was a wooden bookcase in the corner. Photos of various people, family, I guessed, standingon top of the wooden cupboards on the coffee table. I felt my stomach clench at the sight of a newspaper on the coffee table ebaring the headline "TITANIC SINKS, GREAT LOSS OF LIFE" bu tried not to think aboutn it.

In the corner of the room was a large dog bed lined with blankets. I wondered what sort of dog the Calverts had. Rose hadn't mentioned one. I was interupted from my thoughts by a gasp from Rose I didn't need to wonder where the gasp came from. Sppeding towards us from the kitchen was a black stamepede.

We were suddenly swamped by a number of squirming, yapping, wriggling black labrador puppies. They clambered over one another to see who the newcomers where. I felt their sharp little claws dig into my skin as they attempted to climb up my legs. I picked up the one furthest up my left leg to prevent the little rascal from tearing my trousers. He was jet black with fluffy, glossy fur and hazel brown eyes, identical to his brothers and sisters. I let his lick my face and then let him rejoin the army. Rose was crouched down, playing with the pups. They clambered all over her; legs, back, arms, one was even attempting to climb up a stray curl. She was in ehavan with the pups. I joined her, crouching down and letting them swamo me. We counted black pups in total, but they weren't the only ones. Lurking in the background was one more forgotten pup.

She was the odd one out of the family, the runt of the litter. She was differant from her brothers and sisters,instead of the glossy black coat, she had fur of shning bright golden yellow.

It's not unusual for there to be a mix of colours in a litter of Labrador retrievers. The breed has three colour variations; black, yellow and chocolate brown. There can be a mix of colours in a litter and even if both parents are the same colour, the pups can be one of the three variations. This pup was the obvious odd one out, the outcast.

She was shyer than her feisty siblings, and lurked t the back of the mob, hiding behind the sofa, wearily avoiding the new people. I crept past the black pups to the edge of the sofa. The yellow pup wimpered lightly and cowered away from me. I held out my arm to her, encouraging her forward. She eventually crept slightly forward and sniffed my wrist, her litte pink nose twitching. Then she slowly crawled out a little and inspeced my whole hand, sniffing, even ocassionally licking. Then she pounced. She lunged at my hand, yapping ferociously, her fluffy yellow legs clutching my wrist. She then opened her mouth and began to gnaw on my hand. I gasped as he sharp little teeth sunk into my skin. I jerked my hand and she fell off. I took hold of her before she could realise and pulled her close to me. She was scared at first, whimpering and shaking but I held her against my chest and gently stroked her. She soothed and nuzzled into me, her eyes drooping. She was alseep within minutes.

Rose came over to us, wondering where I was and she instantly loved the yellow pup. She stroked her with the back of her fingers and I eased her into Rose's arms. Rose held the little pup, saying how cute she was. I had to admitt, she was pretty darn cute. I was stroking her again when I suddenly heard a low growl behind me. I turned my head to see a large, placid black labrador bearing her teeth at me.

She lunged at me, toppling me over under her weight. I let her do what she wanted, not wanting her teeth to attack. She climbed ontop of me an gave several warning barks right in my face. Rose gave a sratled scream when she saw the dog, but the yellow pup scrambled out of her arms an ran to her mother. The dog eventually climbed off of me when she saw her small daughter and licked her all over. It seemed that that was all she wanted and she went off to inspect the rest of her brood. I sat up, amazed that the dog had shown such feirceness over her daughter.

"Rosie! Bad dog!", I heard a Spanish sounding voice say crossly. I looked around to see a slim woman with thick brown hair handing down her back standing over the black dog, shaking her hand at her. She tunred to us, an apolegetic look on her face. "I'm sorry about that. She can get very protecive of the pups around strangers sometimes. Goodness knows what she'll do when we give them away!" We got up and sat down on the sofa, brushing the dog hair off of our clothes. The woman shook hands with us. "I'm Selina, Nathan's wife. And this-", she said, reaching down and picking up a small girl from the middle of the puppies. "Is Lucy, our daughter. Say hello, Lucy"

"Heggo", the toddler said shyly, waving a hand at us. Rose took a shine to the little girl.

"Hello, she said in a friendly voice. "My name's Rose"

"My name Loocy" she replied. "What your name?" she asked me.

"My name's Jack", I said. She smiled at us.

"Mummy! That Rose and Jack" she said, pointing at us the wrong way around. Selina laughed and sat down beside Rose, putting Lucy on her lap. Lucy crawled into Rose's lap instead. She tugged one of her red curls.

"You got funny hair" she said. We all laughed.

"Lucy, that's not very nice!", her mother laughed.

"You've got pretty hair", said Rose, gently tugging one of the girl's thick brown pigtails. She giggled.

"Mummy? Where Daddy?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Can you go and look in the kitchen for me?"

"Yeah!" Lucy slid off of Rose's lap and raced to the kitchen, her skirt flying behind her. She came back a moment later dragging Nathan by the hand. He sat down next to his wife and pulled his daughter onto his lap.

"Sorry about the pups" he aplogised. "They just love strangers!"

"Well, they certainly are a cute lot", I said. "Especially the yellow one. But her mother doesn't seem to like her asossiating with people"

"Yeah, Rosie's a bit like that sometimes. She can be a little too overprotective and sometimes she does mad things. Bit like your mother, Rose!" Rose laughed.

"I have to aggree with you there, Nathan" she said. He suddenly turned more serious.

"So now will you explain what this is about?" Rose looked at me, as if for reassurance. I gave her an enouraging nod. Selina sensed the sensitivity of the subject and said to Lucy.

"Sweetie, shall I take you upstairs and you can play with your dollies for a while?" Lucy nodded eagerly.  
"Ye yes yes!" she said and Seina led the litte girl upstairs and out of earshot. When she returned, Rose told her story, starting from when she met Cal so it would make more sense.


	8. Chapter 8

Rose's POV

It brought back painful memories telling the story of how I'd met and gotten engaged to Cal. I felt sick to the stomach when I told them about the times he'd hit, threatened and intimidated me. It hurt even more when I told them about how many times he'd preassured me for sex. Halfway through, Jack and Nathan looked furious, their fists clenched like they wanted to tear Cal to shreds. I guess they probrably did. Jack looked as bad as I felt when I told Nathan and Selina about the Titanic. They turned ghastly pale hearing about the details of the sinking and what Cal had done during it. I was nearly in tears by the time I'd finished. I felt Jack's arms wrap around my shoudlers. I leaned towards him and cried, unable to continue.

Reliving it like that made the realisation of what had happened finally sink in. 1500 people had died on a ship they trusted, that didn't hold enough lifeboats for half the people on baord. Those poor 3rd class people who were trapped below deck, left to die. Those men who snuck onto lifeboats whilst inoccent children drowned in the icy waters. It made me burn with fury. I felt a complete mix of emotions; guilt, having lived when so many died, anger at theWhite Star Line for the lack of boats, grief for the 1500 dead. I didn't know what to feel. I just burried my head in Jack's chest and cried. I felt Selina place a comforting arm on my shoudler. Nathan stayed sitting still, staring at the wall opposite. His eyes were blank, his fists clenched. It was like he was in shock. I didn't blame him. His best friend had just been in one of the worst shipwrecks in years and had been living with an abusive fianccee. When he finally spoke, he muttered,

"How could he? How could he do that to you, Rose? He ought to have died that night!" I had to admitt, he had a very good point. Cal had selfishly tried to save himself instead of helping anyone else, it was atrocious that he should be abe to get away with it.

"So, I am guessing you two will be needing to rebuild yourselves after this" said Selina, changing the subject a bit.

"Yeah, I guess so", Jack replied.

"Yes, we'll have to get some new clothes and stuff", I chipped in.

"And I'm assuming you want rid of those", said Nathan, indicating Jack's wrists. I looked at them and suddenly realised he still had the steel handcuffs locked onto his wrists. I had grown used to seeing them on him and had forgotten all about them. He agreed that he should go and see to getting them off tomorrow aswell.

"I know a locksmith about 15 minutes away who could help you out" Nathan said.

"OK, I'll go there then"

"I'll do the shopping then. I know what'll happen if I let you do it", I said. Jack looked at her.

"And what does that mean?" I rolled my eyes.

"You're a man. Men always mess up the shopping"

"Yeah, that is actually a good pint. You do the shopping then"

"And what do you plan to do for the rest of the day?"

"Oh, I've got something in mind..." I wondered what he had in mind. I couldn't think of anything so just gave up. Selina said that she and Lucy would come with me tomorrow to help.

"That would be wonderful. Does Lucy like shopping?"

"Oh yes, she loves it! Watch out though, she'll be picking out all sorts of little girly dresses for you with bows and ribbons. She's very into girly dresses!"

"Ha! Well, that's deffinatly not what I'm aiming for so I'll just tell her that they'd look a lot nicer on her than me"

"Oh God, don't. She'll be onto me then, begging me to buy them all. I'm telling you, if we gave in to Lucy's every wish, this place would be a fairy princess castle of flowery pink furnature and girly flouncy dresses. She might seem like a sweet little angel but she's a little madam when she wants to be!"

"Yeah she is" Nathan said, "Like someone else I knwo used to be..." I hit him on the arm.

"Hey! It's not my fault I was brought up sarrounded by posh, hoity toity brats. Doesn't mean I was one of them. Anyway, you were quite a weirdo yourself"

"I was not!"

"Were too!"

I thought back to when we were younger. Nathan seemed quite odd to me as all the boys his age I knew (not that Mother let me assosiate with many) were minature Cals. He was a funny, cocky boy with messy clothes and tousled hair. I'd found him interesting and a fun guy to be with.

We told Jack and Selina about when we were younger. Like the time Mother had cought me on the back of one of the horses with Nathan and had gone balistic. Or the time we were having a tree climbing race and I fell and tore my skirt, causing Mother to explode. When she told me we were going to France I thought she was doing it to get me away from him, fearing I would become a little too close. Now I kenw it was because of Cal, however. Nathan even found a couple of photographs he still had from the time I had stolen the family's expensive camera and we'd taken pictures of ourselves riding the horses and larking about in the stables. Jack seemed amused to see pictures of me fooling around in a mucky horse stable wearing a fancy upper class dress. I looked so happy in those photos, taken weeks before leaving for France.

It felt good to relive those happy memories. I didn't even know Nathan had kept those crumpled old photos all these years. I felt bad that I hadn't kept any memories of our friendship, but then again, ater everything that had happened, the chances of me still having them were slim to none.

I wished my life had taken a differant turn. I wished I'd never left for France, that I'd never met Cal. But then again, if that hadn't happened to me, I wouldn't have met Jack. And that was deffinately something I didn't want to change.

About 2 hours later, Selina said she would start to make a start on dinner.

"I'll give you a hand" I said, etermined to pull my weight and learn how to cook. I'd never been taught housewife skills, Mother had always left those jobs to the servants. Now I would need all the practice I could get. At first, Selina refused to let me help, saying I was a guest and shouldn't have to, but I was certain I wanted to, and she gave in when I said about needing the practice.

Once in the kitchen. I watched as Selina took 5 peices of chicken out of the ice box, one of them slightly smaller for Lucy, and slid them into the lit oven. She then showed me how to peel potatoes and, after a couple of cuts on my fingers, I soon grasped the skill. Once I had put the potatoes to boil, Selina showed me how to shell peas. It was a fiddly job, but once I'd had some practice, I managed to shell the peas quite quickly. Soon they too were boiling with the potatoes. While we waited for the food to cook, Selina gave me a quiz on what I'd learned.

"And what's the most important thing about cooking chicken?", she asked. I raked my brain.

"To make sure that it's properly cooked to avoid the risk of food poisoning or salmonela. Selina smiled.

"Great! And how long does it take for potatoes to boil?

"About 20 minutes but peirce the potatoe with a fork halfway through to make sure it's cooking properly", I recited. Selina was amazed at how quickly I'd learned.

"Pretty soon you'll be able to bake cakes by yourself if you keep this up!", she praised. I swelled with pride. I had always been a quick learner, especially when it was something I really wanted to learn, and cooking was deffinately one of those things.

When we finally served the food, everyone complimented my cooking, even Lucy. Nathan said my chicken was superb, not undercooked but not too crispy either. Whihc was a good thing, said Selina, because Lucy was a fussy toddler who refused to eat anything that was burnt.

"The potatoes are great too", said Jack. "Was it your idea to boil them with melted butter?" I nodded proudly.

"Well, I just thought that if you put butter on them when they're cooked, surely they taste even better when they're cooked with buter?"

"You are deffinately right there, Rose", said Selina.

"Yum!", came a little voice from Lucy. She dug into her meal, finishing it all, even the peas, which some fussy toddlers refuse to eat.

Nathan had to give her a light telling off for dropping peice of chicken on the floor for a begging puppy, but she just slipped little bits under the table behind her father's back still. I saw her several times but didn't have the ehart to inform her Nathan. Eventuallually, Nathan shut the pups out in the back garden for a while to keep them out of the way of the food. After dinner, whilst Selina and I washed the dishes, Nathan and Jack fed the dogs, which was quite a sight. Those pups were deadly when they were hungry and standing in between them and the food bowls was fatal! When they finally came back inside, they both had muddy dog marks all over their trouser legs. It was really quite funny but they didn't seem to think so.

By the time all the household chores were done and the dogs were all sorted for the night, it was quite late. Lucy knew when her bedtime was but kept quite, taking advantage of the situation. Her mother however, eventually noticed the time and carried her daughter up to bed. Nathan showed me and Jack up to the guest room where we would be sleeping. By about 10.00, we had all said goodnight and turned in to bed. I was exausted, it had been such an eventful day. I was only too happy to fall asleep.

However, I culdn't stop myself from thinking. Thinking about so many things. I knew we couldn't stay with Nathan and Selina permenantly. We needed to sort ourselves out as soon as possible. I decided I would go job hunting tomorrow. I wondered what sort of work I could do, having never worked a day in my life before. I tunred over and gently shook Jack's shoulder. He stirred and opened his eyes.

"What is it?" he said when he was awake.

"I was thinking. We can't stay with Nathan for ever. We have to get back on our feet but we need money to start off with. And who's going to hire me wen I haven't worked a day in my life? I can't do anything. I can't sew, I can barely cook, I can't draw like you can, I feel so useless!" He put his arm around me and held me close.

"Rose, you aren't useless. There's got to be something you can do. And it's not your fault you can't do anything, it's because your mother wouldn't let you. And you don't need to start working straight away, we've got the money from Cal's coat to start us off. That should get us by until you can learn a trade" I considered. Jack made sense, we did have enough money for the time being. Why didn't I think of that? I felt so much better now.

"Oh Jack. What would I do without you?", I said, kissing him. Before we knew it, the kiss became passionate, and before we knew it, we were making passionate love again, absorbed in love for one another.

***

The next morning, I awoke to the glorious smell of food. It smelled of eggs, bacon and toast. I yawned and sat up. Sunlight poured through the window and shone right in my face. I rubbed my eyes. I looked over at Jack, who was awake and staring at me smiling.

"Good morning, beautiful", he said. I leaned over and kissed him.

"Now it is", I said.

We quickly dressed in the clothes Nathan and Selina had lent us until we could buy some more. Our own clothes had t be thrown away as they were so water damaged. We decided we would go out and do what we'd planned for the day as soon as possible.

When we went downstairs, we found Nathan sitting on the sofa reading the paper and Lucy playing on the floor with the puppies. Rosie looked perfectly happy for the little girl to play around with her offspring, perhaps she was just protective. I could understand that, I would if it were me. The strong smell of food cooking came frm he kitchen. I went into the room o ind Selina cooking breakfast. She smiled and said good morning to us.

"Good morning", we replied. I stayed in the kitchen and helped with the cooking whilst Jack joined Nathan in the living room. They both cleaned out the dog bowls and saw to the dogs' breakfast whilst we cooked.

It was tricky work frying the eggs becasue the oil spat at me angrily but soon I learned to control the temperature of the heat and they cooked just fine. I could slice the break easily enough but toasting it under the grill was trickier than frying the eggs becasue they toasted so quickly. I elft one slice alone for a second and it burned to a crisp. After several attempts, I soon got the hang of it.

We all sat down and ate whilst talking about the day ahead.

"Lucy? Do you want to come shopping with me and Rose", Selina asked her daughter.

"Yeah!", Lucy replied, dunking toast into her boiled egg.

"Well, shall we eave about 10?" Selina asked me.

"Yep, sure", I replied.

"We'll leave about the same time then" said Nathan. He was going to go with Jack.

After breakfast, Selina and I washed up and gave the kitchen a quick clean whilst Nathan and Jack shut the dogs upstairs in the spare bedroom which had been turned into a room where they could stay when nobody was in. Then Selina went to help Lucy get dressed. At last, we finally left the house to do the day's jobs.


	9. Chapter 9

Jack's POV

We all left the house and walked a little of the way togeather, until we finally parted at the end of the street. Rose, Selina and Lucy went in one direction towards the city, Nathan and I walked the other way.

"So, will this locksmith want to knwo where the cuffs came from? He might think I escaped from prison or something" Nathan chuckled.

"Nah, he won't. Bit thick for his own good, this guy"

But dispite being too thick for his own good, this guy had a good enough buisness. His shop was a bright clean place with a fair amount of people buying keys and locks and such. Behind the counter was a shot, squat man with very little hair and small squinted eyes. He looked quite gruff and didn't smile much, just sat there eyeing his customers for theives. He did look rather thick. We walked up to the counter and I cleared my thoat. He looked at us like he wanted to be anywhere else on Earth but here.

"Um, do you have anything to get these off?", I asked in a low voice, lifting my wrist. He didn't look suspicious at all, just lifted it and examined the of chain and key hole.

"Medium size, 3 1/2 millimetre thick steel, inch wide key hole. I'd say you need a size G60 key" I winced at those words. G60, the number of the cabin me and Fabrizio shared with the Sweeds on the Titanic. Would reminders of the tradgedy ever stop?

He stood up and left the room, disapearing into a b ack store room. He returned later with a small silver key. "Try this" he said simply, handing the key to me. I fitted it into the lock but the key was slightly too small for the hole. I took it out and handed it back to the guy.

"It's too small for the lock" I said. He gave a grunt and walked off, returning later with a slightly bigger key. Again, I fitted it into the lock and it turned. The steel cuff fell away from my wrist and anded on the counter. I quickly unlocked the ther one which fell away too. It elt good to be free from them finally. The guy took the key back from me and returned it to the store room. I pocketed the cuffs, deciding to despose of them later.

The guy came back to us and said gruffly "That'll be 1 dollar fifty", holding out his hand. I gave him one of the dollar bills I had in my pocket. I'd swapped one of the ten dollar bills for ten one dollar bills with Nathan for some smaller change. The guy put it in the till and gave me back fifty cents. He didn't say another word as we left the shop.

"Bit plain, isn't he?" I said to Nathan as we walked back down the street.

"Yeah, he is", Nathan agreed. "I once went in there to buy a lock for the back gate and he accussed me of stealing his stock when I carried on looking with one in my hand"

"Well, sure looks like he's really into customer loyalty" I laughed.

"Oh yes, he's a very freindly chap, puts complete faith in his customers", Nathan replied sarcasticly. "So what's this other thing you're planning on doing?"

"I'm gonna get an engagement ring for Rose" I said. Nathan smiled.

"Great! So when're you gonna propose?" I hesitated.

"Well, I er, haddn't really got that far yet. How did you do it?" Nathan smiled at the memory.

"I took her for a walk in Central Park at night, and prosposed by the lake when it was all lit up. It was beautifu. There were even a couple of swans on the lake and the sky was full of stars" I pictured it in my head.

"Wow, sounds like the perfect image to draw..." I muttered vauguely to myself.

"You draw?"

"Yeah. Mostly portraits but some landscapes. I drew most of them in Paris" I thought of the nude drawings Rose had stumbled upon. I thought she would gasp in shock like a nun that had just discovoured a naked man in her chapel. I was surprised she'd reacted so calmly. Nathan looked quite impressed.

"So, you been anythere else in Europe?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah, northern Italy, where I met Fabrizio, a bit of switzerland, whilst travelling to France, and a place just over the Spanish border called Bermeo" Nathan looked at me in surprise.

"Bermeo? That's where Selina's from!" We were both amazed at the coinsidence.

We walked into the opposite side of town that we knew Rose and Selina would be in, we didn't really want a collision. Eventually, we found a place that sold good value rings. The man behind the counter seemed more interested in his customers than the locksmith, in fact, it was a little annoying when he kept trying to get us to buy one of his more expensive rings. There was a large selection to choose from, but I eventually found a ring that was just right.

It was white gold with a red rose on it, and a tiny diamond in the centre of the rose. uckily, it was only 50 dollars, a perfect price. The ring was sold.

I thought about where to ask the all important question. I could do what Nathan did, a romantic walk in Central Park, or I could just do it back at the house. I wanted it to be special, a moment we would both remember.

"You could take her out for dinner somewhere?" suggested Nathan. I considered.

"Well, maybe. But we're trying to save as much money as possible to start out with and I don't really want to spend too much of it. Plus I've got to get her something for her birthday in a week's time" Rose had told me that her birthday was 1st of May, the first day of Spring. I'd told her mine, 15th of October, but that was ages away. It was Rose's I had to worry about.

"Oh yeah, it's her birthday. I can't beleive I almost forgot!" siad Nathan, slapping his forehead. "No matter, I've got the perfect idea..."

"What?"

"Can't tell you. It's sort of smething for both of you. Speaking of which, I've gotta go and get a few things. I'll meet you back here in half an hour" And he ran off into the crowd. I decied to go hunting for soemthing for Rose too, although I hadn't the faintest idea what she'd like.

I searched through countless shops searching for the perfect present, but with no luck. I wished I could get her all the stuff Cal could have. With him she would have had jewelery and clothes and all sorts of expensive things. I could never give her that. I pushed those thoughts out of my head. Comparing myself to Cal would do no good. I should just get on with what I had. Which was about 15 dollars and change.

After unsuccessful searching, I finally found it. The perfect present. I was walking past an ordinary jewelery shop, nothing big or expensive caught my eye, just an ordinary silver necklace with an oval locket engraved with roses. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and knew instantly it was perfect. I felt a jolt in my stomach, for the locket atatched to the chain was the exact one I had.

5 years eirier, after the fire that killed everything I'd ever love, I'd gone back into the ruins of my house, looking for any family belongings. Nothing. Everything was reduced to piles of ash and dust. All the photos, all the sentimental things we had, gone. All that is, except for a silver locket my mother had owned. It had been given to her by her father for a wedding present and had belonged to her grnadmother. I had found the locket, slightly dented now, and dirtied by soot, the chain a severed mess. But the locked was mostly intact, as was the photo inside it. It was the only photo I had left of my parents, taken when I was about 10. The phto was slightly singed around the edges, but still in good contition. I had kept the locket tied onto a peice of string and kept it with me at al times. During the Titanic sinking, I had tied it tight around my neck to keep it safe so I would still have it, if I survived. It was the last connection I had left to my famiy that had died in the fire.

I pulled the dented, singed locket out of my coat pocket and looked at it. It was still tied ontot he string, and now the slightest apearance of rust had formed around it's tuny hinges, caused by the sea water. I decied to clean it as best I could to keep it in a best condition as possible. I looked at the picture inside and then at the locket in the window. This locket held a picture of my past family, Rose's one would hold a picture of our family yet to come. Without a second thought, I walked into the shop and bought the perfect 18th birthday present for my one true love.

I met Nathan a little ater than we planned, but he didn't seem to notice. He was holding a bag which he wouldn't let me look into. I didn't show him what I'd bought Rose either, so we were even.

We decided to get a quick lunch and bought a couple of sandwitches from the market. As we walked along eating, we talked more about our interests. It turned out that Nathan also had a keen interest in art, dispite admitting to being a rubbish observational srawer. He was, however, quite talented at cartoon drawing, and had a job illustrating the New York Times' cartoon strips. I picked up a free paper from a newspaper boy, not daring to look at the large Titanic themed headlines, and flicked to one of the comic strips. Sure enough, in the corner was Nathan's signature. I was quite impressed at his unique style and the way he drew his people. They all had extravigant, exteme body shapes, each one unique to the others. I didn't know who wrote them but Nathan sure did bring the story to life!

I decided I would take up drawing again as soon as I could, once I'd restocked on supplies. I needed paper, pencils, a sharpening knife and a folder to keep them in, all the essentials for an artist. I also decided to look for a job related to art. I told Nathan this and he said, "Hey! I know a guy who works in an art shop that does portraits. He's looking for another person to draw the portraits. Sadly one of his others went down with the Titanic. Poor fellow. I knew him vaugely, nice guy he was" He shook his head sadly.

We went to the art shop, a backstreet place with a large wooden sign overhead and letters carved into the wood and painted gold, "Ryerson's Art" Again, mys stomach lurched at yet another reminder of the Titanic. Ryerson, the name of the guy I'd solen the coat from. I pushed the thought away and walked inside with Nathan.

The owner of the shop was a tall, lanky man with brown hair. He had a good sense of humour and loved to get to know his customers. I told him I was inetrested in the job and he got me to draw a quick obsevational sketch of the woman behind the counter. I showed him the finished picture, in record time too, he said, and he hired me straight away. I was oer the moon. A day after arriving in New York and we already had at least some money coming in. The owner, Tom, said the pay would be 40 dollars a week, and the hours would be either 11 until 4, or 12 unil 5. I decided to go for 11 until 4, which seemed perfect for me. Tom also said that the days were Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, which was fine with me. I said I would be able to start the next day and left with Nathan.

I was in such a good mood after the day's success, I didn't notice the tall, dark-haired man approaching in the distance.


	10. AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE READ!

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE**_

_**Hi readers,**_

_**I'm sorry about the lack of updates recently but it's been one thing after another, you know? When I got back from Manchester in the Easter break I was sick until school started again and then the schoolwork added to my to-do list. Then a week ago my Godfather died of liver failure. I couldn't concentrate on writing when I was so sad and abandonned the story until now.**_

_**Again, I'm sorry but please understand why I haven't updated. Anyway, I'm back now and will be updating roughly about once every 5 days. I know it's a bit of a wait but that makes the story better. I've got lots of details and plot ideas up my sleave so it'll hopefully be as good a story as I can make it!**_

_**Also, I'm sorry if I make any mistakes in my writing like spelling or punctuaion, etc. I sometimes write too fast for my own good! And I'm sorry if there are any other mistakes like hsitorical dates, places and events. Also, apologies for any money mistakes. I am English and don't know much about American money (why ahve you got a quater dollar coin and a 25 cents coin? They are both the same amount of money!). Please correct me if I'm wrong. Any other suggestions or ideas are welcome so please comment if you want!**_

_**Your dedicated writer,**_

_**LydiaDiCalari x**_


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**I know this chapter's short, but it's the content that matters, not the leangth! Read and reveiw please!**

Rose's POV

The shopping trip was a success. It was fun choosing differant dresses and other clothes. Mother had always decided what I wore so I'd never been able to choose like that. Selina and Lucy helped me pick out differant outfits and I eventually decided on a short lavender summer dress, a dark blue one with pleats, and a white lacy one with a red sash. I also bought a couple of skirts and tops, all of which went togeather wonderfully. I picked out some shoes aswell and a couple of hair ribbons. As expected, Lucy was picking out goodness knows how many little girl's dresses for me which wouldn't have fit me if I dieted down to a size 0. I told her that I was too big for those dresses and she seemed to understand. She loved the shoe section, walking around in high heels miles too big for her litte feet. More than a few times she tripped over but she simply collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Jack's stuff was easy, just some shrits and trousers, it was mine that was the problem. Mother was always telling me how awkward I was to buy for, saying hardly any colour at all went well with red hair and that my body was an awkward shape. She made me feel like some sort of horribly deformed freak, when in truth I just had some curves she didn't approve of. She seemed to think they were indecent, far too suggestive to the opposite sex when actually, I'd never had any boy notice me in that way before I'd met Jack.

After the clothes were bought, Selina and I decided to go somewhere for lunch. We decided on a nice cafe and had some sandwitches and salad, with smaller portions of Lucy. She was little angel, behaving perfectly. I'd always hated shopping as a child and would whine and moan and fidget. Lucy was perfectly behaved, a well behaved child mother would have given anything more me to have been. She finished all her sandwich and ate her crusts without complaint, and was far less picky with her vegetables than most children her age. I on the other hand ate slowly, my stomach feeling a little queazy. I left a couple of bites of sandwitch and half the salad. Selina looked at me with concern.

"Are you alright Rose?" she asked. I forced a smile.

I'm fine. My stomach just feels a little bit queazy"

"Has this happened before?"

"Well, it did last night. I felt like I was going to be sick" Selina considered. Then she leaned across the table and talked in a low voice so Lucy couldn't hear.

"Rose, please excuse my asking, but is your period late by any chance?" she asked. I blushed.

"Well, yes it is" Selina stood up.

"I think you need to see a doctor" I looked at her.

"Why Do you think I'm ill?"

"No ill, as such. I'm not going to tell you my suspicions now, lets just see what the doctor's got to say. This same thing happened to me..."

I thought about Selina's words as we walked up the steps to the doctor's surgery. I bgan to worry. Was I ill? Was it serious? I felt my stomach fill with butterflies as we waited in the waiting room. Finally a doctor in a white coat poked his head around the door.

"Rose Dawson?" he asked. I stood up and Selina and Lucy followed me into the surgery.

I lifed my top up to my chest and let the doctor press and prod my abdomen. It didn't hurt, but I still felt the queaziness. He wrote his results down and examined them.

"Tell me, how old are you, Rose?"

"18 next week"

"Right. And are you married?" I considered. Should I tell him?

"Yes" I said.

"Well, I've come to a conclusion as to why you are feeling this way" I held my breath. "I'm pleased to tell you that you are just over a week pregnant" I gasped.

"Are you certain?" I asked, shocked.

"Yes, abut 90 percent" I clasped my stomach with my hands, knowing that there life inside me. Selina put a hand on my shoulder.

"Rose? Are you OK?" I nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit overweilmed. Oh my God, I'm pregnant!" I said, as it sunk in. Now the shock was over, I was so happy. I was going to have a baby. Lucy put a small hand on my stomach.

"No you're not" she said, shaking her head. "You aren't going to have a baby. Your belly isn't big" We all burst out laughing, except Lucy, who looked at us in confusion.

We decided to make our way home. The excitement of finding out I was pregnant had made me forget completely about finding as job. I was bursting with excitement. I couldn't wait to tell Jack. Then I stopped.

What if he wasn't as happy as I was? What if he didn't want any children yet? I didn't know how I would live if he didn't want our baby. I worried about it the whole way home.

When we got back to the house, Selina let the dogs out of the upstairs rom and the hosue was swamped with a mass of black pups. The yellow pup trailed behind her siblings and settled herself peacefully on the sofa. She looked at me, her eyes wide with fear. I gently extended my hand, and she sniffed it. She trembled a little when I picked her up but calmed down a bit when I gently stroked her back. Soon she was asleep in my arms. She was so cute when she was asleep. It was amazing how unlike her siblings she was. They were loud and boisterous, she was quiet and content. They were a glossy jet black, she was a soft, golden yellow. She obviously had problems trusting people, but she seened to like me a lot. I could hear her soft breathing as she slept in my arm. I wondered to myself, is this what it's like to hold your baby in your arms?

Lucy was upstairs playing with her dolls and Selina was upstairs cleaning. I sat there, gently stroking the puppy, thinking. I had to think about the future now. It wasn't just me and Jack anymore, we had a baby to think about now. We wouldn't be able to stay on with Nathan and Selina when the baby came, it wouldn't be fair on them. I had to find a job soon and make some money before I went on maternity leave. I hoped Jack had found one today. We needed money to support ourselves. The money from Cal's coat would be a big help for us to settle down somewhere but we needed to keep the money coming in. I just hoped I could find a job that I could do.

About an hour later, Jack and Nathan came back. Nathan went straight upstairs to put something he had bought away. He wouln't tell me what it was. He seemed slightly shaken, a little shocked and he only faintly smiled. Jack looked worse. His face was grim, and he looked deep in thought and worry. I noticed one side of his face was shadowed by a large bruise.

"Jack, what happened?" I asked in a worried voice. He came and sat down on the sofa beside me. I gently touched the bruise and he winced in pain.

"Rose, we have to leave. Now"

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked desperately. He looked at me, his blue eyes filled with seriousness

"Rose, we're both in danger. Cal's here"


	12. Chapter 12

Jack's POV

As Nathan and I walked down the busy street, neither of us paying much atention to our surroundings, neither of us saw the tall, dark-haired man aproaching us in the distance. We didn't notice him before he noticed us. Well, he didn't notice Nathan, it was me he had his infuriated eyes on.

"You!" he yelled angrily, swinging his fist at me. His punch hit me hard on the side of my face, casuing me to stagger sideways. He shoved Nathan out of the way and pushed me against the wall of a shop. I could smell alcahol in his breath and grimaced at the smell. "Where is she?!" he yelled in my face. I knew straight away who he meant. Cal had come back to find us.

His face was full of fury, his hair still a mess from the sinking, his suit still torn. He looked like a wasp that had been shaken up in a jar; deadly angry.

"Tell me where she is!" he demanded. I decided to use the skilfull lying that had made me a success at poker.

"Cal, Rose didn't survive" I told him. He looked shocked. He let me go and walked back a bit, his hand running through his greasy black hair.

"I don't beleive you. You're lying. Trying to protect the little whore"

Now it was my turn to punch him in the face. He yelled and staggered backwards.

"Don't you ever call Rose a whore again, you bastard!" I yelled. "And she is dead. She died in the water"

Cal looked like he wanted to murder me.

"Oh really. Well you obviously saved yourself instead of her. Exactly what I'd expect from a gutter rat" I aimed another punch at him but he dodged out of the way, and my fist slammed into the wall. I gasped as the bricks scraped , my knuckles, drawing blood. Cal just laughed. The he had a thought.

"Or maybe, maybe she's not dead. Maybe you're just lying to keep her safe. Ha! Of course! Well, I'll find her. Mark my words, one way or another, I'll have her back for myself!" And he stagegred off down the busy street, laughing to himself like a maniac. I looked at him, realising what had just happened. Rose was in danger. He might be drunk, but he was serious. Cal had strong conections and could bribe the police into launching a city-wide search. I had to get ehr to safety as soon as possible.

"Jesus Christ! Who the hell was that!" Nathan asked, shocked. He had backed against the wall the whole time.

"That, was Caledon Hockley" Nathan gasped. He remembered what Rose had told him the night before and put two and two togeather.

"Oh my God" he said. "We better get home. The other'll be back by now"

The walk home was silent, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I knew I had to get Rose out of the city as soon as possible, there wasn't time to wait for money or arangements, it had to happen soon. As we approached the house, I gave my bag to Nathan.

"Here" I said. "If Rose sees in she'll want to know what it is" Nathan took the bag and slipped it into his own. He didn't give me his usually happy smile, he just looked straight ahead, a frown on his face. I knew he was as concerned for Rose as I was.

As we walked into the hosue, we were attacked by a mob of pups, but I didn't crouch down and stroke them, I picked my way past them over to Rose, who was sitting on the sofa, with the yellow pup sleeping in her arms. She looked concerned as she saw the dark bruise that had formed on the side of my face.

"Jack, what happened?" she asked in a worried voice, tuching the bruise. I winced in pain.

"Rose, we have to leave now. We're in danger" She looked even more worried.

"Why? What happened?"

"Cal's here, he knows we're alive"

I hated having to tell her this, seeing how scared she looked. I explained about him finding me and Nathan and how he was drunk and about the fight. She understood how serious the situation was. Selina looked equally worried when we told her too. Lucy was upstairs playing, and a good thing too, we didn't want to worry her.

"Where will you go?", she asked us. We looked at eachother.

"Well, the only place I know we can go is Chippewa Falls" I said I was reluctant about returning, it held bad memories. But we were running out f options and at least I kenw people there who would welcome us into the community. "Is that OK with you, Rose?" I asked. She smeiled.

"That sounds great. It sounds like a nice pace from what you've told me"

"Then it's settled, we'll leave for Chippew Falls as soon as possible"

"I can get you tickets on the train to Canada tomorrow morning. It stops off there along the way" Nathan offered.

"That would be great" said Rose. "Thank you for all you've done for us, Nathan"

"Hey, what else could I do? I wouldn't just turn away my closest childhood friend, would I? I'll go down the train station now and get the tickets"

I took some money out of my pocket. "Here's the money for them" I said but Nathan refused to take it.

"No, the tickets are on us. Think of it as an early birthday present for you" he said to Rose. "And since you won't be here for your birthday, I guess I'll give you the real present when I get back" he added with a smile and left.

Rose smiled but still looked worried. I moved closer to her and put my arm around her shoudlers.

"It's OK, Rose" I said, trying to comfort her. "I won't let him find us. This time tomorrow we'll be in Wisconsin, far away from him" SHe suddenly burst into tears and buried her head in my shoulder. I tried my best to comfort her but she didn't stop. She suddenly looked at me, her emerald eyes filled with tears.

"Jack, I've got something to tell you" she said, fighting back more tears. "I... I'm pregnant"

My heart skipped a beat. She was pregnant. Rose was pregnant with our child. I hugged her tight.

"Rose, that's great!" I said, delighted.

"So you're not mad?" she asked. I was shocked.

"Why would I be? We're going to be parents. How can that be anything other than the best news in the world?" She hugged me harder.

"I thought you wouldn't want it. I was so scared. If it was Cal he would probrably accuse me of doing it just to annoy him" I looked at her.

"Rose, forget about Cal. He's no longer in our lives. Well, he won't be anymore. I'd never not want our baby, it's impossible"

"Oh, I'm so happy! We're going to be parents!" she said excitedly.

"How far along are you?" I asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Just over a week. Must've happened on the Titanic"

"Yeah, I guess so. Does Selina know?"

"Yes. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't even know yet. She noticed I was showing signs and took me to the doctor. Lucy's adament that I'm not pregnant because my stomach isn't big"

I laughed. "Don't worry, it'll grow soon"

"Don't remind me. In nine months I'll be as big as a whale"

"Well, I don't care if you are as big as a whale, you'll still be the most beautiful woman in the world"

"Aw, thanks. I wonder what the baby will look like"

"It'll obviously have the same gorgeous looks as it's mother"

"Hey, it might look like you. Or maybe it'll be a mix of both of us. I'd like that"

"Yeah, me too. Whatever it looks like, it'll be loved"

Nathan came back a few minutes later, with the two train tickets to Chippewa Falls. Then he went upstairs and came back down with the bag containing what he'd bought earlier.

"Sorry I didn't have time to wrap it, but I only bought it today", he said. Selina came downstairs with Lucy so she could watch too.

Nathan handed the bag to Rose and she looked inside. She looked a little puzzled at first but then a huge smile spread across her face. From the bag, she pulled out a red dog collar and a matching lead. Both of them were puppy-sized. I realised what the present was. Rose lept up and threw her arms around Nathan.

"Oh Nathan thank you! I've always wanted a dog!" He gestured towards the pups playing over in the corner.

"Well, take your pick" he said. Rose walked over to the pups and beckoned me over.

"Jack, come and help me choose" she said. I followed her over. We examined the pups individually, but both our eyes kept wandering towards one in particular. It was the little yellow pup. She looked up at us with her big, hazel eyes and I felt my heart melt. I looked at Rose and she looked at me. That was it. The pup was sold. I scooped her up in my arms and said, "How d'you fancy living with us?" In response, she licked my nose and gave a happy yap. I handed her to Rose and she cuddled her close happily. We took her over to the sofa and let her settle down between us.

"Now all she needs is a name" said Selina. "We didn't name them because we thought it would be harder to part with them if we did. So what are you going to call her?"

"Rose picked up the puppy and examined her. "Hm... Maybe something to represent her fur? Goldie maybe? What do you think, Jack?"

"Um, it sounds ike the sort of thing you call a gold fish. Hazel, for her eyes?"

"She doesn't really look like a Hazel to me. She's such a sweet puppy. And her fur is a gorgeous honey colour. Hey... Honey? How about that? Honey."

I tried it out in my head, looking at the puppy. It sounded perfect. It represented her fur colour and her sweet nature. Honey was our newest family member.

"I think it's a perfect name"

Rose smiled and picked up the red puppy collar. "Welcome to the family, Honey" she said, fastening the collar around her golden neck. Honey herself seemed pleased with her name and yapped happily, sporting her brand new collar.

That night, Honey followed us both upstairs to bed. We tried to get her to stay downstairs with her brothers and sisters but she wouldn't hear of it. She stumbled up the stairs behind us and after falling down several times, eventually managed to hitch a lift by clinging to my leg. As soona s we got to th landing, she dropped to the floor with a light thud and scampered to the bedroom. She somehow nmanaed to climb up the duvet and settled down between me and Rose under the covers.

"Well, I guess we may never be alone again" I said.

"I suppose so. But I wouldn't have it any other way" Rose said. She sunk down under the covers and lay peacefully on her side, stroking a sleeping Honey's back. I smiled. Rose was the picture of tranquility. She looked as happy as could be. I leaned over Honey and kissed her forehead.

"Night Rose. I love you" I said before I fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Rose's POV

I awoke to a cold wet nose nuzzling my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw Honey leaning over me, wide awake and insisting that I should be too. I yawned and stretched and tried to pull her ito a cuddle but she wasn't finished yet. She decided I needed a wash and began to lick my face. Her little pink tounge was ticklish and I squirmed away from her, giggling. She decided I was clean and leaped from my back to Jack's. She nuzzled him with her nose but he turned over, groaning. Honey was having none of it and yapped loudly in his ear, demanding that he wake up

"Alright, alright! I'm getting up" he said finally, reluctantly turnign back over. Honey, finally satisfied, then licked his face like she had done with me. It was amazing how determined she was. It seemed that when she wanted something done, it would be done. She finally finished licking him and settled down between us, licking her paws clean.

"Looks like we've got a ready made alarm clock aswell as a puppy" I joked.

"Looks like it. How're you feeling?"

I shrugged. "Not bad. I just hope I can keep down my breakfast. Everytime I eat, I feel like I'm going to be sick"

"Well, nobody ever said having children was easy"

"Easy for you to say, you'll never have to go through it"

"Well, yeah, that is a good point. Shall we go down now? We've got to be out of the house by 9 if we want to catch the train"

We climbed out of bed and got dressed in the clothes I had bought yesterday. I loved the loose feel of my dress, it was so differant from the restricting layers of clothing I had worn all my life. The corset itself was more than this dress.

We entered the kitchen to the same smell of food as we had smelt the day before. Honey had decided to sleep in upstairs, having seen that we were up. I helped Selina cook, determined to scrape up any extra cooking tips before we left. Jack joined Nathan outside in feeding the dogs. While we prepared the food, we chatted to eachother.

"I'm gonna miss you when you go" Selina said as she flipped the eggs in the frying pan.

"Yeah, I'll miss you too" I replied. Then I had a thought. "Do you think Honey will miss her mother and siblings?"

Selina considered. "I think she may but she was so shy, she never really played with the pups. She'll probrably miss Rosie though. She was always close to her mother"

"I feel so mean now, taking her away like that. I'd hate it if that ever happened to me. Even though it did, but I did that at my own accord. I was never close to my mother"

"Well, in a way, it's the best thing for her. In the wild, pups fly the nest when they're about Honey's age so she'll really be doing just what nature intended"

This put my mind at rest. Honey herself had decided she wanted her breakfast and came stumbling down the stairs, and darted into the kitchen. She scrambled at my leg and look at me with those melting brown eyes. She gave a sharp yap that could only mean two words: "I'm hungry!"

I picked her up and carried her outside to where the other pups were eating their breakfast. Any other pup would have leaped from my arms and charged at the nearest bowl, but Honey cowered into me, scared. I stroked her trembling body and slowly walked towards the bowl that was not occupied by a puppy. I knelt down and tried to coax her from my arms, no luck. In the end I just carried her back inside with the bowl and gave her her breakfast inside.

"She's always been like this. She hides behind the shed and waits until al the others are finished before eating. It's like she's willingly placed herself rock bottom of the pecking order" Selina explained, setting the plates of food onto the table. I comforted Honey as best I could whilst she ate. It was funny, around anyone else, she was terrified and refused to be any bit as bold as her brothers and sisters. But with me or Jack, she was a determined pup who always knew what she wanted and how to get it. I guessed that was just the way she was, and I loved her for it.

"Hey, got off!" I suddenly heard Jack's voice from the back garden. "Come on, let go!" I walked over to the open back door and glanced out- and collapsed with laughter. Jack was shaking his leg around, trying the shake off Rosie, who was clinging to his trouser hem, a low growl in her throat. She was shaking her head around, like she was tearing up a pillow. She gave an almightly tug backwards, making Jack loose his balance and fall to the ground Nathan stood nearby, laughing uncontrollably at the scene. Finally, Rosie got bored and trotted off to annoy someone else.

"That dog really doesn't like you!" I shouted in between giggles. From the kitchen, Selina was also laughing. Everyone seemed to find it hilarious- except Jack.

***

After a quick breakfast, me and Jack went upstair to pack the few belongings we now had. We had only bought essentials, not wanting to waste too much of the money we had. We still had to settle down somewhere. Where that would be, we didn't know. We just had to get out of the city as soon as we could, for both of our lives.

"Where will we stay in Chippewa falls?" I asked, folding my clothes inside my suitcase.

"I'm not sure. Remember I said there was only one guest house, run by Mrs Ryan last time I was there. Remember that was 5 years ago though. Things might have changed since then" It sounded like he was trying to stop me worrying. I wasn't worried, jsut interested.

Chippewa Falls sounded perfect, a small, quiet country village. I was especially interested in Lake Wissota. Jack had told me about the time he'd fallen through the ice, and a few other bits about the lake. He said in the summer you could go fishing there and come home with fat juicy fish worthy of either eating or selling. I's always wanted to go fishing, but mother would never have allowed it.

Although it was April, it was still a little chilly in New York and would be colder in Wisconsin, so Jack had gone out quickly to get a few more things. A warm coat each for us and a strap on coat for Honey to keep her warm. Her thin puppy fur wasn't very warm yet. Jack picked a red one to match her collar and lead, a cheap but good value one with warm fleece on the inside to keep her warm.

All too soon, it was time to say goodbye and depart for the station. Nathan would come with us but Selina stayed behind to watch Lucy. We all exchanged hugs and we promised to write to them once we were settled.

"Take care, Rose" Selina said as we said goobye. "

Lucy was sad that we were leaving but was even more sad that Honey was leaving too.

"Don't you worry, Luce. We'll take very good care of her" I assured her as she hugged the puppy one more time.

"Will she have lot of toys to play with?" Lucu asked in her sweet little voice.

"Yes she will. She'll have lots of toys to play with and never be bored"

Lucy lifted Honey up and said sternly "You be god, OK? Don't be naughty or you'll get in trouble", she lectured.

Lucy seemed able to let Honey go after that. And after we promised to bring her with us whenever we visited.

Finally, we were walking down the quiet suburban street towards the station. Honey was still quite scared and I ended up having to carry her half the way. She was absolutely terried of the loud roads and busy streets.

As we approached the station, something horrible cought my eye. It was a wanted poster on a lamp post. On the poster was a picture of me, taken at a gala I had attended with Cal and Mother in Paris. The poster read:

_WANTED_

_Rose Dewitt Buckator, fiancee of Caledon Hockley has been missing since the Titanic disaster. It is known that she survived but has not been seen since. Mr Hockley is very worried about her safety and well-being and is offering a $50,000 reward for her safe return._

I read the poster, my eyes bluring with tears. I looked around and saw the psters on not only this lamp post, but every lamp post, as far as the eye could see. I felt the tears roll down my face. I was so scared. I knew Cal would react this way, I just didn't think it would happen overnight, literally. Jack and Nathan read the poster, and both saw how serious it was. We had to get out now. Jack held me close as I cried and wrapped him arm around me protectively.

"It's Ok, Rose" he said, lifting my head so I looked him in the eye. "I promise, I won't let him get to you. We're almost out. The train's waiting and as soon as it leaves the station, we're safe. He'll never get to you, Rose, I promise"

I hugged him hard, thanking God fate had brought us togeather.

We stood on the platform, five minutes before the train departed. I hugged Nathan and thanked him again for taking us in, and for Honey.

"Hey, you're my best friend,you know I'd do anything for you", he said, smiling at me. Suddenly, the warning wistle blew; the train was about to leave. Jack and Nathan quickly said goodbye. I was so pleased they liked eachother, they even shared a common interest in art. We gathered our things and climbed onto the traina as it began to slowly move. We waved goodbye until the station was consumed in pearly grey smoke.

We made our way through the caridges, looking for the room number on our tickets. We were in room B-52. I shuddered, another Titanic reminder, B-52 was the number of the state room I had shared with Cal.

The room itself was prefectly comfortable. There were two seperate ebds which was a bit of an inconvenience but we could live with it. The journey would only take two nights. There was a chest of drawers for clothes and a small bathroom. There was also a shelf with a collection of reading material. I browsed through and saw a few well known titals, plus a few I had never heard of but sounded interesting. Of course, they wasn't a dog bed, but we made Honey her own bed by pulling out the bottom drawer and layering it with warm blankets. She seemed a bit wary of these new surroundings and gave a nervous yelp whenever the train shuddered or bumped but she soon managed to get used to it.

Jack and I spent the day exploring the train or just staying inside our room. I decided to read one of the ooks on the shelf. I was so absorbed that I didn't notice Jack sketching me curled up on the bed, my nose deep in the story. Honey soon became bored and began chasing her tail and chewing on a blanket in her bed.

Whenever the train stopped at a station, we would go out onto the platform for some fresh air and exercise, something which soon became what Honey endured each boring day for. Although nervous about exploring he new surrondings, she soon became curious as to what the veiw would be the next time she jumped off the train. As the train steamed north, the citys and towns began to disapear and the land soon became greener. I even had the delight of seeing a herd of wild deer gallop past in the feild behind one station. Jack seemed amused at my reactions to these sights. He had grown up in these surroundings and was used to them. I had been kept shut up in he city all my life and had rarely seen the countryside or wild animals. Honey on the other hand saw these large unfarmiliar nimas as a threat and cowered benind me or Jack whenever they came into sight.

The further north we went, the safer I felt. The mear thought of being hundreds of miles away from Cal let me sleep soundly at night. I knew well he would do anything to get his trophy wife back. Well, his wife in practice if not yet by law, to quote the son of a bitch himself. But what harm could he do if he didn't have the faintest ides where I was? I was sure now that me, Jack and our unborn child were safe now.

Speaking of our unborn child, I don't know if it was that or if I was train sick, but I think I threw up a total of 11 times over the whole journey. I knew that pregnancy always resulted in somesickness, that was just part of the process, but I hadn't dreamed it would be this bad. I felt as if everything I ate and drank came back up. I began to worry that something was wrong. Was the baby harmed? Had I done something wrong? I'd ended up chatting to a woman who had two chldren of her own and she assured me that I was doing nothing wrong, it was all natural in the early stages of pregnancy. This helped, but I couldn't help feeling concerned with every wave of nausea.

After a two and a half day train ride, I was somewhat releived to be stepping off the train at Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I breathed in the cool countryside air and felt instantly refreshed. The skyline was brushed with hills of all differant shades of green and brown, outside the station there were pine trees scattered about everywhere, their minty smell filling my lungs. By the roadside there was a carved wooden sign bearing the words "Welcome to Chippewa Falls"


	14. Chapter 14

Jack's POV

I looked around the station, noticing how little had changed in 5 years. The same pine trees lined the country roads, the same signposts leading to the same places, the only thing that had changed was the way I thought about the place.

Throughout my childhood I had thought of it as a wonderful place, a wild country village miles from any city, with beautiful scenery and a place where humans lived side by side with nature. I had told mysef I never wanted to leave.

After my parents died I had thought of it no longer as a place of peace and happiness, but a place of painful memories and sadness. I swore then that I would never come back to this place. I'd left the day after the funeral, with less than a sackfull of posessions and $10 in my pocket. My parents' deaths had taught me that life was too short to waste and I left deciding not to rest until I had seen it all. And so I left, intending never to set eyes on Chippewa Falls again.

And yet here I was, standing on the one platform of the station in the town that held so much sadness. With my one true love, our canine companion, two full suitcases and a pocket of enough money to support us and our unborn child. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought this was how I would return (if at all).

We walked out of the station and walked down the country road to the centre of the small town. We were passed by several people on horses and a few more people walking with loose dogs. I didn't recognise any of them but they all nodded and said hello; Chippewa Falls had always been a friendly community. Honey seemed scared of these dogs and hid from them, but on the whole she seemed a lot more realxed in the quiet countryside. Rose looked delighted to see the country. I'd guessed she hadn't seen much of the country, what with her high class life and uptight mother. To show her a bit more of the widlife, I decided to take a detour over a fence and down a forest hill, to Lake Wissota.

That too was the same as I remembered. The same wooden boat dock, the same flock of Canada geese, the same small island in the middle of the lake. The lake itself was sarrounded by wild forests. Quite often, people would come down to the lake for the day and photograph the wild animals that used the lake as a drinking ground. Rose looked on in awe at the vast cryastal blue waters. We were in luck today, there were a couple of wild deer drinking from the riverbank.

"Oh, they're so beautiful" Rose gasped when she saw them. Even though seeing them was no surprise to me, I had to admitt they were beautiful creatures. We watched them for a while and they finally scampered off into the woods. Honey crept towards the water, dipped a paw in and jumped back, startled at the coldness of it. The water was never warm until the hight of summer. Honey shook her paw wildly, shaking off the wet stuff and walked away. I made a mental note to add water to her ever growing list of fears. There weren't many people around today, the whole scene was tranquil and peaceful. I stared out at the lake, taking in the beauty of it. I could pinpoint the exact location where I had fallen through the ice all those years ago, though the lake wasn't iced over in April. It mainly froze around late November and melted in mid January. People would spend all day ice fishing out there and the market stalls were always full of fish, people calling out, "Caught fresh straight from Wissota!" to the potential buyers.

We finally climbed back up the hill and over the fence and continued along the road. Finally we approached the town's centre. I'd forgotten how busy it could get on market day, we were nearly trampled on by the stampede of bargain hunters. Poor Honey was scared out of her wits. It took 10 minutes to calm her down after neary being trodden on by a horse. We made our way towards the guesthouse, hoping that there would be a spare room. When I left, it had been run by Mrs Ryan,a freindly Irish woman with a cheery personality.

The house hadn't changed ether, except for a new coat of paint and a new door. Inside, I was glad to see that Mrs Ryan was still there, cheery as ever, chatting to a man I remembered as Mr Thompson, the owner of the local food plantation. His company was the source of the local supply of vegetables, fruit and some meats. He had always been a bit full of himself and didn't hesitate to make it clear to us all how successful he was. He would claim to have friends in high places, only half of which we believed. He was now boasting away to Mrs Ryan about a big deal he had struck. "I tell you, it will make me the most successful man to set foot in Chippewa Fall, Mrs Ryan. I can see the money this deal will bring me right before me" Mrs Ryan noddded and smiled politely but I could tell she was getting a bit sick of Mr Thompson. Her eyes brightened when she was us.

"Jack!" she said delightedly. "Well, you're the last person I'd expect to see back here!" She pulled me into a tight hug before I could dodge away and damn near suffocated me. I used to called her the Constricter when I was little. She finally let me go and tunred to Rose. "And who's this?" she asked me.

"This is Rose" I replied. "The love of my life", I added proudly. Mrs Ryan pulled Rose into a hug. Rose looked desperate for air by the time Mrs Ryan put her down. Mr Thompson looked surprised to see me too.

"So you decided to come back then?" he asked stiffly. I nodded, equally stiffly.

"I see you still haven't made anything of yourself"

I sighed. That was typical of him. If he had his way, every 5 year old would be lectured about the economy and buisness tactics. Anyone who wasn't a successful buisnessman, he looked down on. I tunred to Mrs Ryan.

"Mrs Ryan, have you got any spare rooms available?"

"Hm.. Yes, we do have one available. It's normally $10 a week but I'll let you have it for $5" I opened my mouth to protest but she held up her hand.

"No arguments, I'm just glad to see you're back", she said. The she noticed Honey. "I see you've got yourself a dog too? I'm fine with dogs in the house, so long as she's housetrained, that is"

"Oh she is, she's very clean" said Rose. Mrs Ryan nodded.

"That's good. I'll show you upstairs"

She led us up to the second floor, to a room that was perfect for us. It was just the right size, had a lovely veiw of the market squere and Mrs Ryan even said she had one or two of old dog beds somewhere for Honey to sleep in.

She left us to settle in finally and went down to start on dinner. Rose and I unpacked and put away our things.

"So, what do you think?" I asked Rose.

"I love it!" she said happily. "I love the whole town. Everyone's so friendly here, except that Mr Thompson downstairs, he seemed quite rude and arrogant to me"

"Yeah, he's always been like that. He owns the local food supplier. He seems to think that it makes him lord of the town because he controlls our food and we should worship at his feet. He and Cal would get on like a house on fire" Rose tensed a little. I cursed myself for bringing up Cal.

"Rose, we're safe here, he won't find us. Hardly anybody who doesn't have family or freinds here knows about it. There's no way he'll track us down"

"I know that" she said quietly, her body tensing noticably. She turned deathly pale in the face and stared at the floor. She drew in short shallow breaths, like she was trying not to faint. It looked to me like she was terrified. I walked over to her and put my arms around her.

"Rose, it's alright. You don't have to be scared anymore" She jerked away from me suddenly. I stared at her, shcoked.

"Rose, please, what's wrong?" I asked.

"I- I think I'm gonna-" She suddenly darted to the bathroom, her hand clamped over her mouth, and slammed the door. I could hear her throwing up violently.

***

Later that night, we went downstairs for dinner with Mrs Ryan. We talked about various things as we ate generous helpings of Shepherd's pie. I told her about everythig I had done and improvised about meeting Rose, just saying we'd met on the Titanic, leaving out details. She stared at us in shock when we metioned the Titanic.

"Oh, you poor things, going through something as dreadful as that" she said sympatheticly. "I myself am going out of my mind with worry over the Titanic. My grandson, Tommy was meant to be coming over to America on it and I haven't heard a thing from him"

I nearly choked on my food at the metion of Tommy. I couldn't beleive they were related, what were the chances of that? I dreaded the thought that I would have to tell her her grandson was dead, but it would have to be done, it was only fair that she knew. I practiced in my head and finally said, "Mrs Ryan, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Tommy didn't survive. His name was on the list of the dead" I said as gently as I could. Her fork fell from her hand and tears welled up in her big brown eyes. Rose put her arm around her shoudlers comfortingly.

"We're so sorry" she said gently. "He was a good man, he didn't deserve to die"

"I can't beleive it! He was so looking forward to coming to America. He'd never left Ireland before"

"Mrs Ryan, before he died, he was so good that night. He convinced the steward to open the gates and let a few women get through. His death wasn't meant to happen, but it was quicker than most of the others' deaths",I said

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"He- he was shot by an officer by mistake" I said. Fabrizio had told me how it happened. I just felt glad that the officer, Murdoch had committed suicide after.

After dinner, I went back upstairs to give Honey her dinner and take her outside for a bathroom break. She wolfed down her scraps of chicken with gravy without having to worry about it being stolen by her siblings. She licked the gravy off of the inside of the bowl eagerly and licked her mouth clean. The I clipped her lead on and took her out for a quick walk.

It was getting dark by now but it was still light enough to see everything clearly. I decided to walk up to a place I swore I would never go again; Goosecreak Farm.

I felt a little nervous as I walked with Honey up the stone road towards the farm. I wondered what it would look like. When I'd left, it had been a burnt down mess, black and filthy. The roof had collapsed and the whole thing had looked like a huge bonfire. I prayed it wouldn't look like that now.

As we got closer, I got a huge shock as we walked past the fields. I was barely paying attention to the animals that occupied them, and was suprised when I was jerked back by my hair. I turned around and saw a huge black head staring right at me. It was Thunder, my horse. He had recognised me instantly, even after so long. I had thought he and the other animals had been sold on after I'd left and was amazed to see him still there. I estimated that he was about 9 years old by now.

"Hey, old friend" I said quietly, loking into his warm eyes as I stroked his head. "Didn't expect to see you again. Guess you didn't expect to see me either. I can't beleive you're still here" He gazed at me and gave a soft snort. I felt his farmiliar warm breath on my face. He seemed to understand every word said. I'd hated leaving him behind when I left, I knew there was no way I could take him with me. Another farmer who lived on Woodbridge Farm assured me when I left that he would be well looked after. I assumed that he would be sold on with the 2 cows and 30 or so sheep. I was glad to see Thunder was still here.

Without thinking, I climbed over the fence between us, avoiding the barbed wire, and into the feild. I lifted Honey over the fence after me. She sniffed Thunder's hoof and backed away when he lowered his huge head to sniff her. I ran my hand along his smooth black neck and along his back. Without thinking, I swung my leg over his back and climbed on. He didn't jump, or seemed startled. He obviously remembered me and was comfortable with me. I bent over and lifted Honey up onto him, holding her steadybetween my legs. I wrapped her lead tightly around my wrist and pressed my heels into Thunder's sides.

It felt good to gallop on horseback again. I loved the rythum of his swift movements, it felt wonderful. Honey seemed startled and confused at first, but soon got used to it and relaxed, whilst cluthing my leg with her paws in a death grip. She even began to enjoy it after a few minutes.

"Oi! What're you doin' on my land?! Get off that horse now!"

The angry voice startled me. I tunred Thunder around to see an old farmer running towards us, pointing a rifle. He looked furious. I smiled as I recognised him as the same farmer who'd promised me my horse would be taken care of. So he meant that he would look after Thunder, I realised. As he got nearer, his facial expression turned from angry to suprised as he realised it was me.

"Jack!" he shouted delightedly. "'Bout time you came back! I see you've found Thunder quick enough, I said he'd be looked after"

I rode over and dismounted, lifing Honey back onto the ground. She seemed all too happy to be back on solid ground again.

"So what brings you back?" asked the farmer, whose name was Jim.

"Long story" I said. "Can't really tell you all of it, but I'm here with my girlfriend, Honey-" I indicated Honey, who was sniffing the grass inquisitively. "-and our unborn child" Jim raised his eyebrows.

"And you and this girl are unmarried?" he asked. I couldn't help but roll my eyes, I'd forgotten how old fashioned this place was about that sort of thing.

"Well, yes, for now" I said awkwardly. "But I'm planning to propose soon. When that'll be, I don't know yet"

"Ah, I see. What's her name then?"

"Rose"

"No last name"

I thought quickly. Giving away Rose's last name could prove disasterous. "Um, Rose Smith" I said quikly, saying the first name that came to me.

"Nice name, that. So, you planning to stay on here?"

"We don't know yet. Depends what happens really. Sorry, it's complicated"

"Well, if you do, your parents' place was rebuilt after you left"

I felt a little bit of happiness inside me. At least when I went up there I wouldn't see the burnt remains.

"Thanks, I'll bare that in mind" I said. "I was actually going up there now. Guess I'll see you aroudn then"

"See you later, then"

We shook hands and Jim walked back across the feild. I said goodbye to Thunder, climbed back voer the fence and carried on towards the farm.

After about 10 minutes, I finally saw the hosue in the distance, and he farmland surrounding it. The barn had also been rebuilt, almost exactly the way it had been before the fire. The blaze had originated in the barn and the strng winds that night had blown the flames towards the house. The 3 feilds we had owned were the same as they used to be. They hadn't been effected by the blaze and the only thing missing from them was the animals that had occupied them. They had been sold on as nobody had been there to look after them. Nobody had bought the rebuilt farm and it had remained untouched since he building had been completed.

The house itself was almost exactly the same as the original one. The same red brick, the same light brown slate roof, the same open wooden porch. Along the side of the hosue was the chicken pen, which had also ben replaced. The coop was unnaturally lacking of chickens pecking at the gravelled floor. In fact, the whole thing wa unnaturally quiet. There was no indication that this land had ever been occupied. It was still, empty, lifeless.

I turned away from the house and began walking back down the road. I had seen all there was to see; an empty lifeless hosue with no life signs whatsoever, even the feilds were empty. If we did decided to stay here, we would probrably move into the hosue and at least then it wouldn't be empty. I would look and feel a whole lot better once it was occupied.

By the time Honey and I got back to the guesthouse, the sun had set and the sky was a rich, dark navy blue, punctured by millions of bright stars. It was beautiful. It was one of the things I had missed about this place, bright, starlit skies. You just didn't get them in cities, there were too many buildings, too much smoke in the way to see the skies, which always seemed perminantly smog grey. This was much more beautiful. The whole scenery made me realise that no matter what memories it held, Chippewa Fall was the perfect place to raise a family.


	15. Chapter 15

Rose's POV

The next morning, me, Jack and Honey went for a walk around the town. It was a lovely place, with an old fashioned vibe to it. The people were amazingly cheerful and friendly too. They nodded and smiled at you even if you hadn't set eyes on them in your life. Loose dogs darted everywhere, not a single one with a vicious bark. Honey seemed a little nervous and leaned against my leg as I walked but was obviously a little more at ease with these working country dogs. Near the town centre, there was a booming market with huge crowds of people rushing round, pushing, shoving, desperately wanting to find the best bargains on offer. From every possible angle, there were market stall owners calling out into the crowds. Things like "Free range eggs! Get 'em while they're fresh!" and "Homemade pies! Freshly baked at bargain price!" and even, "Get your maure hear! Ideal for all your garden and farming needs! 4 dollars a sack!" I couldn't get enough of it. It was a place like nothing I had ever seen before. There were no posh carridges or cars, no busy congested roads, now posh, well-known department stores, no fancy gourmet cafes where you paid 20 dollars for a starter salad. I was relieved to see that there were no hoity-toity posh people prancing past in fancy designer suits and dresses, sticking their snotty noses up at the poorer people. This seemed to be a place where everyone was equal and no one thought themself above anyone else. That is, except for the dreadful Mr Thompson.

We walked past a grocery shop to see the man himself leaning over the counter at a saleswoman, appearing to be complaining because his brand of food wasn't at the very front of the shelves. He was saying that he wanted his food to sell out and be in demand as much as possible so he could gain enough money to purchase the large plot of land next to his, ready to open another plantation feild. I rolled my eyes. Jack was right, Mr Thompson could have a good long chat with Cal.

Jack showed me where everything was in the town, and the more I saw, the more I liked. Around mid-day, Honey began to whine and at one point, lay down on the floor and refused to gt up again. She was tired and hungry, and to be honest, so were we. We decided to head back to the guesthouse for lunch.

Mrs Ryan had been distraught at hearing Tommy's death, but had soldiered on valiantly with her duties, preparing meals, cleaning and such. I admired her for that, I didn't know what I'd do in her position. When we got back, she served us sandwiches, home baked bread with butter and a bowl of meat scraps and leftover vegetables for Honey.

"So, what do you want to do this afternoon?" Jack asked as we ate

"I'm not sure" I replied, thinkng. "Maybe a walk in the countryside?"

"Sure, in fact, I've got a good idea where we could go"

"Where?"

"Wait and see, I knwo you're gonna love it though"

I'd always dreaded surprises, they always made me so hyped up and excited. I hurridly finished my meal and helped Mrs Ryan with the washing up (she'd tried to refuse I help, saying I was a guest in this house, but I'd insisted I still needed some practice at everyday jobs).

Finally, after everything was finished, I went upstairs and changed into a more comfortable outfit for walking, and we set off for wherever we were going, Honey trotting at our heels.

We walked through the town and eventually, the buildings and houses became scarce and the countryside became more frequent. We walked down a long, windy stone pathway, lined with feilds containing either crops or animals. Jack stopped at the gate to one of the feilds. It contained one large black horse, peacefully eating the grass and swatting flies away with it's tail. I wondered what was so special about this horse, we had passed many more on the way here.

"Jack? Why are we here?" I asked. He smiled.

"Remember when I told you about Thunder, my horse?"

I looked at the horse again. So this must be Thunder! Jack was right, he really was pure black, and amazingly tall.

"So this is Thunder?" I asked, to confirm my suspicions.

"Yep, that's him. Come on, let go see him" Jack unlatched the gate and walked through with Honey after him. I was a little aprehensive.

"Er, are we allowed in there? Doesn't the feild belong to someone?"

"Yeah, we're allowed. I know the guy who owns it, I met him last night, come on"

I followed through the gate and Jack shut it again. We walked over to Thunder, who gave a snort when he saw us. I was a little nervous of him at first. Not scared as such, but just a little nervous of his obvious power and stregnth. Jack stroked his nose and he Thunder nuzzled him back. The he stepped towards me and sniffed my face with his soft nose. I liked the feeling of his warm breath on my skin, it felt so soft. I stroked his nose and marvaled at the soft feeling of his skin. I'd never thought of a horse as having a soft feeling to it. It felt wonderful to touch. I ran my hand along his smooth glossy back and felt his strong muscles. I wondered what it would be like to ride him...

"Do you fancy a ride?", Jack asked me. I was taken aback.

"Really? You mean, now?" I asked.

"Yep, now. You said you wanted to ride like a man, this'll be good practice for Santa Monica" he joked.

"Er, I don't know..."

"It's OK, he's perfectly safe, I rode him with Honey last night, even she didn't have a panic attack"

I considered. If our nervous puppy felt safe on the back of a horse, why shouldn't I?

"Well, Ok then. Where's the stuff?"

Jack looked puzzled. "What stuff?"

"You know, the saddle, reins and stuff"

Jack laughed. "You don't need all that to ride a horse, just ride bare back, it's a lot easier. Come on, I'll help you"

He showed me how to support my hands on Thunder's back to hoist myself up. He demonstrated how to jump up and swing your leg over, but I had some difficulty, having only ever ridden side saddle. But I was determined to get it right and eventually, I was balanced on Thunder's back with one leg on each side. It felt odd sitting in that position, Mother would have had a heart attack if she could see me now!

Jack handed Honey up to me and I sat her in my lap, gripping her lead tightly. Then he climbed up behind me and showed me how to hold on to Thunder's neck with my arms. He explained how to tell the horse to go, bu tapping his sides with your heels. I did so gently and suddenly, we were galloping through the feilds.

It was the most amazing feeling. Once I'd go used to the rhythm of Thunder's movements, I found it to be the most magical thing in the world. It was like flying. It made me feel so free. I didn't want to stop.

Of course we had to eventually. We dismounted and let Thunder graze for a while. He seemed a bit tired after galloping around the large feild. We sat down on the grass while Thunder grazed, whilst Honey trotted around, sniffing the grass, the plants, and tasting everything she could see (yes, everything!).

"So, how do you like horse riding?" Jack asked me.

"I love it!" I repleid delightedly. "It was amazing. I thought it would just be like side saddle but at a differant angle. This was 10 times better than side saddle"

"Glad you liked it. So, what do you think of life here?"

"I love it much more than I ever loved life in Philadelphia. Why?"

"Well, depending on what happens, would you like to make the move here perminent?"

At first, I was a little taken aback by the question, but then I realised I would love it.

"That sounds like a great idea! It's the perfect place to live, it's quiet, it's full of nature, I can't think of a bad thing about the idea"

"So you'd really like to live here?"

"Jack, I can't think of a better place to bring up a family"


	16. Chapter 16

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Hi guys! OK, first of all, I apologise for taking a while to update it, but I've been busy with exams at school and I needed time to think up some new plots (I've got some good ones up my sleeve!!). Second, I also apologise for any date mash ups here. I may have got some dates in history wrong in the other chapters, but from here it should be OK. Once again, I'm sorry, I lost track of the dates in the story, I was too busy thinking of ideas. Again, I'v got some good ones in my mind ready and waiting to be written!! **

May 1st 1912

Rose's POV

I awoke the morning of my birthday the same as I had every morning over the past week or so; with a sickening feeling in my stomach. I wrapped my arms around my stomach, willing the pain to stop. Come on, I thought. Give me my birthday off from being sick... Then I realised. Oh yes! It was my birthday! I had completley forgotten about it, so much had happened recently.

After we decided to settle in Chippewa Falls, Jack and I both started looking for jobs. Jack had found one quick enough with the local newspaper, illustrating some of the reports. I had taken some more time to find one.

Having never been allowed to lift a finger in my life, I had basicly no skills that I knew of. I eperimented with differant skills and trades until I finally found one. I'd answered an ad in the paper from the local theatre company. I now worked for them, taking parts in some of the performances and also helping to teach an acting class on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings. I loved the job. I loved acting, it felt like I could jump into another person's life whenever I wanted. I was also allowed to improvise with the roles. I could invent line ff the top of my head and use the script only as a guide. I also enjoyed helping to teach the acting class. Most of the people there were kids, ranging in age from around 7 to 15. It was fun working with them and they seemed to like me too. I earned a fare wage there too, which was an added bonus.

When I finally remembered it was my 18th birthday, I felt as excited as I was when I was little. Maybe the extra hormones of being pregnant had something to do with it. I leaped out of bed and threw open the curtains. Bright sunlight poured into the room, perfect for the first official day of spring.

I suddenly felt something soft and furry brush against my legs. I looked down to see Honey rubbing herself against my legs. I knelt down and picked her up. She yapped at me and I could almost swear she smiled. It was as though she was wishing me happy birthday. I cuddled her close and she licked my nose. This always made me giggle. I carried her back over to the bed and dropped her onto the duvet. She pawed the fabric for a moment, getting herself comfortable, and settled down for a morning doze before breakfast. I lay there, watching her for a moment, trying to contain my excitement. When I could contain my excitement no longer, I leaned over and shook Jack awake.

"Jack! Wake up!" I said excitedly.

"Alright, I'm up" he said when he was awake. He sat up and kissed me. "Happy 18th birthday"

I kissed him back. "It is now" I said, smiling.

When we went downstairs for breakfast, I found that Mrs Ryan had spelt out 18 in scrambled eggs on my plate, and she had even baked a small birthday cake for later. It was my favourite, chocolate cake with cherry jam in the middle (I know, I have odd tastes in food!). She had iced "Happy Birthday Rose!" in pink icing aswell. It looked far to good to eat.

"Thank you so much Mrs Ryan" I said, giving her a hug.

"It was nothing, dear, just think of it as a birthday present. Now what have you two got planned for today?"

Jack and I had decided to go up to the feilds for a picnic that day with Honey. The man who now owned Thunder, Jim, his name was, had agreed to lend us the horse and one of his other horses to ride up there. Jack said he would try to teach me the basics of horse riding that day. I was quite excited about it. Finally, I could learn to ride like a man!

A few hours later, me, Jack and Honey walked up to Jim's stables with the food for the picnic to get Thunder and the other horse. Jim greeted us at the gate to the stable yard with Thunder held by the reins in one hand, in the other hand, he held the reins of a beautiful grey mare speckled with white and a thick black mane and tail. Her name was Shadow and according to Jim, she was calm and easy to manage.

"She won't give you any trouble, she's used to first time riders" Jim assured me. Using the technique Jack showed me, I sucessfully mounted Shadow's smooth grey back and slipped my feet into the sturrups. It felt much more comfortable riding with a sadle, but I was a bit worried about the reins hurting the horse, the bit in her mouth looked a little uncomfortable to me.

"Nah, she doesn't mind it" Jim explained. "If anything, she seems to enjoy chewing it. Beleive me, if it was causing her pian or discomfort I would have disposed of it years ago"

Reassured by his words, I had a go at steering Shadow with the reins. It took a while to figure out but I finally got the hang of it. We set off on the horses towards the feilds, me carrying the food, Jack with Honey balanced on his horse. I was a little nervous at first as we rode down the path, convinced I would drive her straight off a cliff or into a ditch, but I soon relaxed and let Shadow find her own way down the path. It was simple enough, she seemed to know where to go naturally, and she just followed Thunder. She stuck to him like glue, her nose aways brushing his tail.

After about 20 minute's riding, we reached out destination, one of my favourite places I had seen since we arrived, a beautiful feild full of lush green grass and yellow buttercups. It was a high up hill, with a beautiful view of the town below. We let the horses graze in the feild freely (it had a secure fence around the perimeter) and began to set up the food. Mrs Ryan had packed the cake she baked me as well as a variety of other foods; sandwitches, homemade lemonade, chicken strips, small cakes and a slice of blackberry pie each. It was all delicious.

"So, how's your birthday so far?", Jack asked me when we'd finished the food and were taking turns to give Honey the chicken strips.

"Wonderful" I replied. "Better than my last anyway"

"Why? What was that like?"

I shuddered. "Horrible. Simpley horrible" I said. "It was with Cal, that's why. He insisted on orgonising this big posh gala and insisted I wore this horrible frilly dress that I could barely breathe in. And you you know what he got me? This huge, gaudy, moss green emerald necklace. I'd told him before-hand that I didn't want anything too big and flashy, and he goes and buys the biggest, flashiest emerald he can find. It was dreadfully heavy too, and it hung from a short gold chain, so the feel of it around my neck constantly irritated me. I knew refusing it was out of the question, even back then Cal had a temper. But it was that night that was the worst. He came into my room when I was getting changed, catching me when I was just in my underwear, and tried to seduce me. I felt shocked. I had just turned 17 and he was pressuring me for a baby already! I felt I was far too young for any children"

Jack listened to my tale, his eyes wide with shock when I told him about being seduced. Then he said "But, if you felt that way when you had just turned 17, and you became pregnant when you were still 17, you don't still feel the same way do you?"

I realsied what he meant. I regretted saying that I didn't want children yet.

"No I don't" I said quickly. "I mean, yes, I do still feel I'm a bit too young for children, but that doesn't mean I won't love our baby with everything I've got. Beleive me, not matter how old I am, it would be impossible for me to love our baby anymore than I do now"

Jack smiled. "OK, I beleive you" Jack said, smiling. "Well, after hearing what a dreadful birthday you had last year, let's try and make this on even better. Starting with these" He pulled two small wrapped boxes out of the picnic basket, hidden at the bottem. He handed me the bigger one, a longer one, and I began to open it eagerly. Below the paper was a velvet jewelery box and I felt a bit uneasy for a second, but when I opened the box, I found a beautiful silver locket, simple and perfect.

"It's beautiful!" I gasped, taking it out of the box and holding it to the sunlight. The locket shined in the sun, making it stunning.

"So you like it then?" Jack asked.

"I love it!" I replied, throwing my arms around him. I fastened it around my neck straight away, loving the feel of it handing loosely by my chest. Jack handed me the other present and I opened that one too, excitement swelling inside me. I found another jewelery box, smalled and squere this time, and inside, a beautiful ring. It was white gold, with a red rose in the centre, and a tiny, sparkling diamond in the centre of the red petals. It was the most beautiful ring I had even seen, much better than the ring Cal had got me, which had a rock the size of a button in the centre. This was much better.

"Oh, this is perfect!" I said delightedly. "I love it!"

"Well, before you put it on, there's something I need to ask you" said Jack. I looked at him, puzzled for a moment, then I knew what was coming next. "Rose, will you marry me?"

In response, I threw my arms around him again. "Yes! Yes, yes yes!" I squealed. We broke apart and Jack took the ring out of it's box and slipped it onto my finger. It fit perfectly. I'd never felt so happy in my life. I had used the name Dawson as a disguise, but now it would become my real name. I would be Rose Dawson for real.

"Jack, this is the best birthday I have ever had" I said, my jaw aching from smiling.

"Glad you're enjoying it, soon to be Rose Dawson" he said back. He pulled me close and we kissed passionalty. We were lost in our own world... until a sharp yap brought us back to reality. We turned our heads to see Honey sitting opposite us, her tail thumping slowly against the glass, her head cocked in curiousity at us. We both couldn't help laughing. The look on her face seemd to ask, What are you doing? Can I join in? It was hilarious. She looked a little hurt at us laughing at her, so we pulled her over into our laps and began kissing again... until Honey decided she should join in too.

***

"That's it! You've got it!" Jack shouted as I galloped around the feild on Shadow, finally able to steer her correctly. We had been practicing for over an hour and I fianlly new how to manage the horse. It was a wonderful moment, I swelled with pirde knowing that I could ride a horse like a man(!). I was so happy. Jack rode Thunder over to me and we stopped, the horses side by side.

"I can do it!" I said happily. "I can ride a horse!"

"Yep, you're doing great" said Jack. "But I bet I'm faster than you"

I grinned playfully. "Is that a challenge?" I asked. At the same time, we both set off at top speed. I rode as fast as I could, but Jack, having had more experience and a bigger horse, was faster.

"Ha! I win!" he jeered.

"Only because you took off slightly before me"

"That's just an excuse"

"Oh really?" I suddenly took off unexpectedly, racing back across the feild to the other side. Jack caught by surprise, raced to catch up but I still got there first.

"Now who's faster?" I said, trying not to laugh.

"OK, you won this time. Do you want to go for a ride through the forests?"

"Yeah, that sounds fun"

We rode back to the spot where we left the picnic things, and Honey, who was sleeping under a tree. We woke her up and I lifted her up into my lap. She was used to riding on a horse by now and settled down comfortable between my legs. Then we set off, through the feild and back onto the pathway.

We spent the warm afternoon casually riding through the forests and feilds, past several farm and farm lands. They were all beautiful, except for one patch of land. The feids were brown and dull, plantations with rows of sewn seeds. On the edge of the land was large building, grim, and dull with smoke producing from the large chimney.

"Mr Thompson owns that place" Jack explained. "Biggest food supplier in this part of the state. He doesn't care about the wildlife of feids, he just cares about his profit"

"I can tell just by looking at the place" I said.

We rode on, further up the lane until the plantations were out of sight.

"OK, it's nearly sunset so we should take the horses back soon" said Jack as the sky becan to deepen slightly in colour. "But there's one more place I want to show you before we do"

"What's that?" I asked.

He looked a bit uneasy but then said "My parents' old house"

I wondered why he wanted to go there now. I didn't ask, I just followed him up the path towards the farm.

When we finally approached, I saw a medium sized barn in the feild closest to the house, and a couple more feilds lining the pathway. They were all deprived of farm animals like sheep, cows and such. There were a few birds in the trees but that was all, unnatural for a farm. It was clear that no one lived here.

At the end of the path was a lovely farmhouse, red brick with a red slate roof. A wooden porch was built over the front door and there was a chicken coop built along the side of the house, again, no chickens. I noticed that jist behind the house was a small stable, able to house 3 or 4 horses. There was no garden at the back, but who needed one with all this farmland? It was a beautiful place, dispite it's emptiness.

"So this is where you lived?" I asked Jack.

"Not techniquely" he replied. "The actual house burnt down in the fire that killed my parents but this is almost exactly what i looked like, give or take a few details"

"It's lovely" I said.

"Yeah, I guess it is. I did draw a few pictures of it but they were in the folder that went down with the Titanic"

"Really? I didn't see them in there"

"I kept them at the back, inside a hidden part. I did have a couple of my parents in there too, and one of Max"

I didn't remember him mentioning anyone called Max."Who's Max?"

"Max was our sheepdog. He died too. He seemed to know the sheep inside the barn were in danger and he died herding them out"

"Aw, sounds like he was one brave dog"

"Yeah, he was"

A short silence followed. I wondered what the hosue would look like inside. "Do you think we'd be allowed inside?" I wondered aloud.

"I think it should be alright" Jack replied "After all, the house is techniquely mine now, since my parents still owned it when they died and no one has bought the land since then" He dismounted Thunder and tied the reins to a fence. "Come on, lets see if we can get in"

I dismounted Shadown and tied her next to Thunder. Jack and I walked up to the front door and tried to open the door. No surprise, it was locked.

"Hm, I wonder if that key's still there..." Jack mutered. I followed him round the side of the hosue to the stable. The stable was obviously older than the house and barn, it seemed to have been unaffected by the fire. Jack walked into the empty stall next to the wall and moved a loose wood pannel t the side. It was atatched to the wall by a single nail and could slide from side to side. A small space was hidden behind it, perfect for hiding things. There was a slightly rusty key behind the wall, which Jack removed.

"Why would you keep a key in here?" I asked him.

"Because I used to keep forgetting my house key. I kept a spare in here so I wouldn't get lectured about it"

I smiled. I remembered a simular thing I had done in my childhood. I had secretly brought home injured animals, bird with broken wings, stray kittens and such, and hidden them underneath the trapdoor under my bed. I'd made in comfy enough for them, until one day when Mother heard the kitten I was fostering at the time yowling and all hell broke loose.

We ran back to the hosue with the key and unlocked the door and walked inside the house.

The inside of the hosue was quite spacious, with a joint living room and dining room, a kitchen, and a small downstairs washroom. Upstairs, there were 3 bedrooms, a bathroom and a spiral staircase leading up to the attic.

"That wasn't there before" Jack pointed out. "We didn't have an attic before"

"Let's see what it's like" I suggested and started to climb the staircase. At the top of the staircase was a trapdoor, which I opened and climbed through. It was a fairly large attic, covouring the whole legnth of the second floor, with a slanted ceiling from the roog. It would be percet for storing things, there was plenty of space.

The house was almost fully furnished, except the attic, which was empty. It was practiclly ready to move into. We climbed back down through the trapdoor and went outside again to check on the horses. Honey was sleeping by the fence and the horses were leaning over the fence and eating the grass on the other side.

"So what do you think of it?" Jack asked.

"It's lovely" I replied. "It looks like a nice place to live"

"Well, that's kind of why I brought you here" Jack continued. "I was thinking that if we stayed here perminently, we could live here. It's a good sized house, furnished, ready to move into, and we won't even have to buy it as it's techniquelly mine anyway. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds like a great idea" I said smiling. "I'd love to live here. So when shall we move in?" We mounted the horses againa dn began riding back down the path.

"As soon as you want, it's all ready"

I considered. "How about tomorrow?" I asked. I couldn't see any reason to wait any longer.

"OK then" Jack replied. "Tomorrow it is"

I was so excited. This time tomorrow, we would have our own home, and farm. That was something I'd never really had. A home. Yes, I had lived in a large mansion in Philadelphia but I'd never felt at home there, it was more like a prison than a home. The farm we were about to move into felt more like home than Philadelhpia already.

My 18th was definately one of my favourite birthdays of my life. I learnt how to ride a horse, got a beautiful Labrador as an early present, got engaged to the man I loved, and finally found a home.


	17. Chapter 17

May 5th 1912

New York

Nathan's POV

It was just like any other day. I'd fed the 4 remaining pups (the rest of which had been taken to new homes not long ater Honey), taken Rosie to the park for a morning walk, and come home to a quite and seemingly empty house (Selina had taken Lucy to nursery school and gone into town to do the shopping and the pups were upstairs in the spare room). On the way in, I'd picked up the morning post and sat down on the sofa to read it, Rosie curled up on the floor beside me. I flicked through the post, seperating it into two piles on the coffee table like I did every morning, one pile for Selina, the other for me. I found a letter addressed to me in handwriting I would recognise anywhere.

I opened Rose's letter and began to read:

_Dear Nathan and Selina,_

_Everything's going great here in Chippewa Falls. Jack and I moved into Jack's parents' old farm a few days ago. It's a lovely place to live, it's a bit too quiet for a farm because we haven't got any animals yet but we are planning to buy some soon once we've got a bit more money saved. It's a lovely farm, with a small stable round the back and a barn to keep cows and such. We've also got a chicken coop round the side of the house and 3 reasonably sized feilds. Jack and I have already desided that neither of us could raise our animals to be slaughtered so we've decided to just keep a farm for the love of it, not profit._

_Speaking of profit, there's this dreadful man here called Mr Thompson who owns the biggest food maufacturer in this part of the state. I've seen his factory and farm land and I can tell you now, it's awfully grim and unfreindly. I won't be buying food from him and that's final. Plus, he's an awfully stuck up snob, he turns down his nose to anyone who isn't a big sucessful buisnessman. Nobody here thinks much of him but so far, everyone else here is lovely._

_There's a charming Irish woman who runs the guest house called Mrs Ryan, who coinsidently is the grandmother of Tommy Ryan, a man we met on the Titanic who sadly died. It was horrible having to tell her about his death but she had a right to know. She was so upset about it._

_Honey's doing great here too. She loves the country, she seems so much more relaxed in the quiet countryside but she still has a long list of fears! However, she loves riding on horseback!_

_Another thing, I can ride a horse now! Jack showed me how to do it on my birthday and now I can do it easily. It's so fun riding a horse, it feels like flying. We're planning to have a couple more horses on the farm soon, it adittion to Thunder, Jack's horse who lived with another farmer called Jim for the past few years. He's agreed to let us have Thunder back once we've got everything ready._

_I've got more good news too. Jack and I are going to be married! We haven't set a date yet bu we'd love it if you were there. It will be here in Chippewa Falls and probrably sometime over the summer._

_Well, that's all for now. Hope you and Selina and Lucy are all well._

_See you soon!_

_Rose x_

I smiled happily when I finished reading the letter. I was happy everything was working out for them. I was especially glad they had lost track of that Cal. From what I saw of him, he didn't seem like a good guy to get on the wrong side of at all. I just hoped that we had thrown him of the track. If he found them, it could be with horrible results. uckily, it seemed that was unlikely. Jack and Rose hadn't seen Cal since that encounter so i looked like all was well.

***

Later that day, I showed Lucy and Selina the letter, both of whom were pleased to see they were OK. Lucy was happy that Honey was enjoying herself; in the days following their departure, she had pestered us non-stop with questions, saying she didn't think Honey was happy and that she should come home. Now she'd seen the letter, she was satisfied.

"And no word from 'him'?", asked Selina. I shook my head, knowing who she meant.

"Who's 'he'?", asked Lucy innocently.

"Oh, no one" I said vaguelly. "Isn't it your bathtime?" I continued, changing the topic quickly. She nodded her head sulkiy. Like any child her age, bathtime was not the highlight of her day.

"Come on then Luce" said Selina, taking her upstairs. Lucy went willingly, but with a gloomy look on her face.

Half an hour later, Lucy was upstairs playing in her room, and me and Seina were downstairs talking, as we did most nights.

"So they haven't heard anything from Cal at all?" she asked, still worried for them.

"No" I said assured her. "Not a trace. As for the police, no one has come forward saying they've seen Rose. It looked like Cal's trail has gone stone cold. He hasn't got any way of knowing where they are"

"Well, all the same, I still don't think Cal is the sort of man who'll just give up like that. Remember, he's a powerful man. He could probrably order a national search if he named a price high enough"

We stayed there talking about various things when, at around 10:30, there was a sharp knock at the door. I answered it, and gasped. Staring back at me, was a man in an obviously expensive suit, hair slicked with hair oil and bloodshot eyes, with a strong smel of whiskey linkering around him. It was Cal. Cal with a face like thunder. He didn't waste any time at all.

"Where is she?!!" he shouted right at me. I stood my ground, unmoved by his outburst.

"Will you be quiet!" I shot back at him angrily. "Do you know what time it is? My daughter is alseep upstairs"

"I don't give a toss what your daughter is doing" Cal spat angrily. "I know you know exactly where my fiancee and that good for nothing scum are and I demand you tell me right this minute!"

I admitt, he made me nervous, anyone confronted by a man like that would, but I knew Hell would freeze over before I betrayed Jack and Rose's wearabouts to him.

"I haven't got a clue what you're talking about" I said, firmly, crossing my arms. "Now please leave before I call the police" Cal laughed haughtily.

"Fat lot of good that'll do, I'm paying the police quite a sum of money to track down and return to me what is mine, by any means possible" He dragged the last four words threateningly, drawing a small but still deadly pistol from his jacket lining. I stepped back, eyeing the gun wearily. I knew that he knew I was involved, no matter how much I denied it, and that if I didn't give him an answer, he would shoot. I was still solid as a rock, I would not tell Cal the truth, no way. I was about to confront Cal when suddenly, I heard a little voice behind me.

"Daddy? What's going on?", came the tired, half alseep voice of Lucy. I jerked my head around to see her coming down the stairs in her nightdress, clutching her blanket and teddy bear.

"Lucy, no, go back upstairs!" I franticlly called. But it was too late. She had seen the gun, panicked, and ran down the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. Selina leaped up and grabbed our daughter and carried her into the furthest corner from the door. She held our daughter tightly, sheilding her tiny frame with her own body. I was scared now. Scared for my wife and daughter. I knew that Cal would threaten them to get me to talk.

As I predicted, he pointed the gun at them, grinning like a cat in a sushi bar. He didn't have to say a word. The look on his face said it all; _Spill the beans or I shoot. _

That was it. My decision was made. No arguments about it. I would never put my wife and innocent daughter's lives at risk.

"All right!" I shouted at Cal. "I'll tell you where they are!" Cal grinned wider (if that was possible).

"Finally, we understand each other. Now where are they?!", he demanded, his voice husky.

I took a deep breath. "They said something about going to California. To Santa Monica, the beach town. That's where they are, they're in Santa Monica"

Cal looked pleased and pocketed the gun, and I breathed a sigh of releif as he did so. He began to stagger back down the pathway backwards, pointing a swaying arm at me.

"I'm glad we have finally come to an understanding. Thank you for your cooperation!" And he pranced off down the street, swaying slightly, laughing what I assume was meant to sound victorious, but to me it just sounded like a dying wolf, howling in pain.

I slammed the door shut quick and bolted it shut. Selina and Lucy finally retreated from their corner and sank onto the sofa, Lucy still scared and clinging to her mother, Selina shaking violently, tears in her hazel eyes. I sat beside them and pulled Lucy up into my lap. I rocked her back and forward, trying to calm her down. I hated seeing her so scared, it made me want to tear Cal apart. The evil bastard, threatening a woman and an innocent little girl like that.

"Shh, it's Ok, everything's alright. You're safe now" I soothed, stroking her soft brown hair. She leaned into my chest, still breathing heavly.

"That man was so scary!" she murmered into my chest, her voice shaking.

"It's Ok, sweetie, he's gone now, nothing's going to hurt you, I promise"

"That horrible, evil man!" Selina spat furiously, pure hatred gleaming in her usually calm and gentle eyes, mixed with tears of fear. I pulled my wife into a hug too and held them both tight, determined never to let them be put at risk ever again.

"It's OK, he won't bother us again, I know he won't. We told him what he wanted, he can't ask for anymore"

"Good thinkng, Nathan, sending his across the country. He's going to get a shock when he finds out Jack and Rose aren't there"

"Yes well, I'd never tell him where they really are, never. That inhuman monster can turn up with an arrest warrent and an army, I still wouldn't betray them"

"Well, as long as he stays away from both us and them, I'm happy"

"Daddy? Why did you lie to that man?" Lucy asked. "You said that Jack and Rose and Honey are in the countryside, not the seaside" I hesitated, not wanting to tell her the truth.

"I didn't tell him where they really are because it's like a chasing game, and he was cheating. I can't tell him where they really are so I gave him the wrong pace to go to as a punishment"

"Oh, so it's like hide and seek?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, sweetie, like hide and seek"

"Oh, Ok then. He was bad! He was cheating!" I couldn't help but smile

"Yes he was. Now isn't it time you went back to bed?" Lucy nodded, rubbing her eyes and yawning widely.

"Come on, Luce, back to bed", Selina said, lifting her up into her arms and taking her back upstairs.

We both went to bed ourselves not long after Lucy had fallen alseep again. I lay awake for a while, thinking. Yes, we had sent Cal as far away as posible, but that didn't stop me worrying. He had control of the police through bribery and it was more than likely that he wouldn't give up his search. I just hoped for Jack and Rose's sake that he didn't discovour their true whereabouts.


	18. Chapter 18

May 31st 1912

Chippewa Falls

Jack's POV

I awoke that morning the same as I had done just about every morning for the past 2 weeks or so, to the sound of Rose throwing up violently in the bathroom down the hall. Just over a month pregnant, she was experiencing bad morning sickness just about every day.

I got out of bed and walked into the bathroom to find Rose leaning against the wall, holding her forehead. I put my arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.

"God I feel bloody terrible" she groaned, still half asleep. "Why does having a baby have to be so horrible?" She asked this question almost every day, and I didn't blame her. She looked terrible in the mornings now, exhausted and pale as well as tired. She looked especially tired now, with lines under her eyes and her eyelids drooping slightly.

Once sure she wasn't going to throw up anymore, Rose went back to bed to catch up on a bit of sleep and I went downstairs to get the mail and get breakfast started. As I walked down the stairs, I heard the scampering of legs approaching and knew instantly that Honey had woken up.

She was now about 3 months old, and growing. No longer a tiny puppy who needed help to climb up the stairs, Honey was now around half a foot high with a slender body and her coat more golden than ever.

She came stampeding out of the living room, where she now slept by the small fire I built every night for her (the fire had a covour to stop her touching the flames)and jumped up at me as I entered the room. I gently but firmly pushed her down and scolded her. I hated telling her off but she was now at an age where she had to learn these things. She was getting into the habit of jumping up at people as they walked past and we needed to break this habit as soon as possible. When I scolded her, she whined and gave me her biggest, saddest eyes. Never able to stay angry at her for long, I knelt down and gave her a belly rub.

Honey followed me into the kitchen, expecting her breakfast. I served her some chicken from the ice box in her bowl and another bowl of water, which she ate hungrily. I sliced a few slices of bread and began to toast them. Rose never felt up to eating much in the morning because of the morning sickness but I could usually persuade her to eat some toast for the baby's benifit.

Whilst the toast was cooking, I went out to the mailbox and brought in the mail. There was the newspaper, and a few letters. One of them was an advertisment, the other was a reply from a dog trainer I had written to for training advice, and one was a letter addressed to Rose- with a New York postage stamp. I took the mail into the kitchen. The advert, another advert trying to sell Mr Thompsons food produce, automaticly added to the fire pile (we saved all burnable scrap for the fire), I put Rose's letter on the side for her when she woke up, and I sat down at the table to read the reply from the dog trainer.

I'd written to him because exercising some control over Honey was proving harder than we thought it would be. We had decided when we first got her that we would be firm with our puppy and make sure she was well-behaved, but it was proving quite dificult to tell her off and scold her when she would whine and give us her big sad eyes whenever we did. She would take offence at the slightest telling off and turn her back to us, sulking. It pained both Rose and me to see her this way and we found ourselves giving into her demands simply to prevent the sulks.

I read the letter from the dog trainer thoroughly, determined to find a freindly was to train our dog.

The letter told us:

_When it comes to training a dog, it is like dealing with a child. You mustn't spoil it, but you mustn't give the impression that you hate it either. It's improtant to get the balence between love and discipline just right. If the balence isn't right, the dog will either hate you, or be spoiled._

_When you find your dog doing something you do not approve of, firmly stop the doing it, get them to look straight at you and firmly tell them "no" with a single slap on the side. If your dog sulks at this or acts sad, do not fall for it, just ignore it and carry on with whatever you are doing. Then, the next time you see your dog, be freindly and carry on as if the telling off never happened. Carry on this routine until the dog learns that doing the offence will result in a telling off. _

_REMEMBER: When telling your dog off, always do it responsibly. Act firmly, but do not get carried away and frighten your dg into obedience. Never slap yur dog more than nessisery (preferably only once or maybe twice) and do not hold a grudge with your dog. Act as though dealing with a child. You woudl not frighten your child into it obeying you or slap the child more than nesissery, so do not do it to the dog._

_By following these rules, you will hopefully have trained your dog into obeying you. Do not expect it to happen overnight, it will take time for the lesson to sink in, but do not give up after just a few days or weeks._

I read the letter thoroughly, making sure I had memorised everything. When I was sure I had, I put the letter away and finished off making the breakfast. Then I cleaned Honey's bowls out and was putting them away when Rose came into the kitchen, looking a little betetr than when she was throwing up.

"Morning" she said sleepily, still waking up.

"Morning" I replied, giving her a kiss as she sat down. She didn't look like she wanted to eat anything but reluctantly nibbled a peice of toast for the baby's sake. Honey came over and nuzzled Rose's side as she ate, sensing she was unhappy. She usually was these days, but only in the mornings, which was understandable for a pregnant woman. She was always back to her normal cheerful self around late morning. I knew she would cheer up extra fast today, we were going to a livestock sale to buy a few animals for the farm.

We were still building our savings but we now had a steady income with two jobs. Rose insisted on still working full time, dispite my best efforts to persuade her otherwise, and togeather with my wages, we had a bit of money in the bank now. We also had received a little present from Molly.

We had sent her a letter, invviting her to th wedding, when it was arranged, and she had sent us back a letter of congratulations and an early wedding gift of five hundred dollars, a gift we both would have tried to refuse if it was given to us in person. This, added to the money from Cal's coat and both our wages gave us a fair amount of money. Enough to start off small with the farm and hopefully enough for both the wedding and for the baby, when the time came.

After breakfast, Rose, Honey and me walked through to the neighbouring town, Forest Springs, where the livestock sale was. I had been to the sale a few times when I was little, and knew how to get the best buys. There was a choice of either a live auction, or a private sale. A live sale was good if you weren't too picky about your animals, but if you wanted to choose your animals and have a certainly of buying them, a private sale was better. We decided we would go for a private sale.

We had planned to buy one breeding pair of cows, and one breeding pair of sheep, to get started. We alos knew we wanted to buy one more horse. We now had Thunder living in the stables, but he was lonely and bored by himself all day in the feild, so we decided to buy him a friend (and hopefully, a breeding mate). I knew from experience that when buyng animals, it was important not to get carried away and go on a spending spree. After all, as my dad had tld me at a sale once, it might seem like a bargain at the time, but animals cost money to keep.

The sale was busy that day, with a large selection of animals uo for auction and sale, and even more people looking to bid and buy. Loose dogs darted between people's legs and the shouts of the auctioner inside the ring was enoguh to deafen someone. Honey's tail was tight between her legs and she let out a whine every now and then. She was still jumpy and nervous at anything unfarmiliar, and this loud, nosiy place scared her. She leaned against my leg for comfort and I stroked her head comfortingly as we walked towards the sale section.

"How do you know where anything is?" asked a Rose, looking around the crowds, bewildered.

"Well, there are signs telling you where to go but when it's this busy, it's best if you know where you're going" I told her. We made our way to the sheep enclosure first, they would be the cheapest purchase of the day.

All the ewes, rams, and a few lambs old enough to leave their mothers, were in seperate enclosures, each one wearing a tag around their necks with the seller's details on them. I explained to Rose how to check that they were healthy, and we began looking through the ewes first. We found one, a nice average size, 3 years old and in a good condition. The seller said he was asking 150 dollars for the ewe, but we managed to bargain it down to 130. He also mentioned that he had several rams for sale, if we were interested. We said we were, and he brought out one of them. He was 4 years old, in good condition and a good breeder, according to the seller. He was on sale for 170, but we bargained down to 150. We gave the breeder our address and he said he would drop off the sheep the next day.

Next we moved on to the cow pens. We easily found a one breeding pair whcih we bought for a total of 500 dollars. They would be dropped off the next day also. Once that was done, we made our way towards the horse stables.

This was the part that we were most interested in. We knew we wanted one that was easy to ride, and one that wasn't too big. There were a large selection of horses to choose from, and we began walking along the stalls, examining the horses in turn.

The first one we took interest in, was a chestnut male with four white socks and a white clovor mark on his forehead. His namecard said his name was Star and that he was 24 years old. We had already decided we wanted a fairly young horses, so Star was too old for us. We patted him and moved on.

The next horse was a glossy black mare called Jet, 7 years old and came from a carefully bred bloodline. She seemed perfect, until we tried to stroke her and she snapped at us angrily, her ears pricked back in alarm. When we looked back at her name card, we saw the words, "A very free spirit", an understatement for "Dangerous horse". She was too agressive.

The third horse was an auburn colour, with a redish main and tail. Predictably, his name was Red, and he was 10 years old. He seemed freindly enough, until we read his name card and found he had a medical condition in his joints that would require regular medication and vet examinations. As muh as we would have liked to buy him, we wouldn't be able to afford his needs.

We moved from horse to horse, each one having at least one fault. Just when we were begining to think there was no perfect horse here, we came across a beautiful light beige palamino with a white main and tail. Her name was Kara and she was 6 years old. She let us stroke her and nuzzled our hands affectionalty. She was our perfect horse. We stayed stroking her so long that her seller came and asked us if we were interested in buying her. We said we were and he said she was on sale for 900 dollars. This was a little pricy but she was perfect and we were willing to pay the price for her. We happily paid the money and the seller said she would drop Kara off tomorrow evening.

"Oh, I can't wait until tomorrow night!" Rose said excitedly as we left the stables. "She's so perfect, I can't wait to ride her!"

"Well, we like her, now we just have to see if Thunder likes her" I added.  
"Oh, he will" Rose said confidentely. "How can he not? She's lovely"

"Yes, she is. Hopefully she's good with people riding on her"  
"Well, if she's not, how easy would it be to train her?"

"Quite easy I think, but the first few times it can be dangerous becasue she's liable to throw the rider off" Rose seemed to look a little nervous when I mentioned the throwing off part, but soon put the idea out of her mind.

When we got back home, Rose finally opened the letter that came for her that morning. I already knew who it was from. The New York postage stamp clearly showed that it was from Nathan and Selina. Rose read the letter quickly, and she let out a gasp, her face pale. I leaned over her shoulder to read the letter, and was horriied by what it said.

Nathan said that Cal had found out about their part in our escape from New York and had come to their house in the night, drunk, and theatening them with a gun. I couldn't believe it. For one thing, it was amazing that Cal had actually discovoured Nathan was involved. But the fact that he had threatened not only him and Selina, but Lucy aswell, with a gun. How could he be so monsterous? Rose sat down a the table, her forhead resting in her palm.

"Oh my God, he is such a bastard!" she suddenly gasped. "How can he point a gun at an innocent litte girl? He's a monster!" I sat down beside her and put my arm around her.

"Hey, the important thing is that he doesn't know where we are and he didn't actually fire the gun"

"I know, but I feel so guilty. If I hadn't come to him for help they never would have been at risk in the first place. Oh, it's all my fault!" She started to cry and I pulled her close, stroking her red curls.

"Rose, it's not your fault" I told her. "It' nobody's fault but Cal's. He's the one in the wrong here, not you"

"I can't beleive he found out. How could he have found out?"

"I don't know. Maybe someone saw us and reported to the police. At least Nathan put him off the track. He's in California right now"

"Yes, that's something good at least, I suppose"

I comforted her as best I could, trying o reassure her that he was never going to find us, but if Cal coud find out that Nathan and Selina had helped us, why wouldn't he be able to find out that we were in Chippewa Falls? What if he went back to New York and threatened Nathan and Selina again? It seemed we hadn't heard the last of Caledon Hockley.


	19. Chapter 19

June 5th 1912

Rose's POV

"Honey, no! Down!" I said firmly as the excited dog jumped up at me as I walked through the door. It was hard but I had to be firm with her. She was starting to get the message and was jumping less often, but we still made sure she didn't get away with it.

It was around 4 o'clock and I had just come back from work. My boss, and friend, Rachel, had let me shorten my hours slightly from 11 until 5 to 12 until 4. I wasstarting to get tired easier now I was nearly two months pregnant.

Jack and I had settled into a daily routine which worked for both of us. As it was only 4 o'clock, I was alone in the house for another hour and a half or so until Jack got home from suited me fine. I would use the time to read, write the diary I had started after our arrival in Chippewa Falls, or simply stroll around the feilds with Honey. I enjoyed this time.

I went upstairs to the bedroom where a desk now sat in the corner of the room. It stood next to a bookcase and shelf of stationary. This small space had become a sort of study area. It was where I liked to sit and read or write my diary. I sat down at the desk and pulled my diary out from the desk drawer. I had bought the diary in the small stationary shop in town a few days after we arrived. I had always liked fancy notebooks and as a child, had often purchased several books I had bought because they looked lovely - but had no idea what to write in them. This one had a blue-green marble covour and was tied shu with a blue ribbon. I carefully untied the ribbon, opened the diary to the next available page, took out my fountain pen and began to write.

Dear diary,

Today was a great day a work. I love working there. It's feels so good to see the how far the kids have cme with their acting. It helps that they really seem to like me aswell. I sometimes don't feel like they are the students and I'm the teacher. It feels as though they are my friends. They are all so kind and funny and friendly. If this is what it's like to be a mother, then I can't wait!

Nearly two months along and my stomach is just starting to form a round shape. The one downside of pregnancy. In a few months I'll look like a whale! It'll be worth it though. It's worth all the morning sickness I went through (which had fortunately passed now, all the dizzy spells, and it'll be worth feeling like a whale too. It still doesn't seem that real, that in a year's time, Jack and I will be parents. Yes, I know that there is a baby inside me but it still hasn't sunk it yet...

Changing the subject Jack and I have decided to get married sometime next month. I've always wanted to have a summer wedding and I'm desperate to have my big day before my stomach inflates too much! It won't be a huge wedding, nothing like the one that was planned for me and Cal. That wedding was to be the grandest wedding of the year with all of Philadelhpia's society attending, over 500 guests and expensive trimmings, including a horrible dress that mother picked out. I detested it, it had a long frilly train, horrible lacy sleeves and I could barely breathe in the thing! I haven't picked out a dress to wear for this wedding, the one I actually want, but I know I will love it because I will be picking it out!

So far, the guest list isn't that long; just Molly, Nathan, Selina and Lucy, Mrs Ryan, plus Rachel and her husband, who have become good friends to us. I have decided to ask Selina, Lucy and Rachel to be my bridesmaids. I'm sure they'll be thrilled. I haven't thought about the subject of who will walk me down the isle, as both mine and Jack's fathers are dead and there are no male relatives I can ask without blowing my covour. I did think about asking Nathan. When he and Selina and Lucy come for the wedding, I'll try an pluck up the courage to ask him.

I better go now, Honey is whining for a walk.

Rose Dawson

Indeed, Honey was padding my leg with her paw, her lead gripped in her mouth. I put my diary away and clipped her lead onto her collar. I could use a walk myself, I thought.

Honey led the way downstairs, pulling on her lead, her golden tail lashing furiously. I noticed how much more relaxed she had become in these surroundings. She was much more layed back now she was ina routine, in a quiet country environment. But her fear of anything new such as a new stranger or visiting a new place, was still there.

We walked down the front path and walked down the lane to the feild where we kept the horses. Thunder and Kara now got on great. Both enjoyed one another's company and we hoped that maybe once the season was right, they would have a foal togeather. I let Honey off the lead and she leaped forward, running around the wide feild with amazing grace. She was a beautiful dog, growing a little taller every day now. She was roughly about 3/4 of a year old now and was turning into a beautiful, graceful dog. Though still nowhere near fuly grown yet, she was developing quite a figure, curvy and skinny with a delicate tail and a perfectly shaped head. She was a lovely dog, I couldn't think what we'd do without her in our lives.

I walked along the feild to where Kara and Thunder were grazing togeather. I patted Kara's neck and she lifted her head. She was a very serene horse who was quite trusting I could ride her easily and she knew I wouldn't hurt her. She had settled in well on the farm. I gave her nose a stroke and walked off after Honey, who was galloping off in a wie circle, waiting for me to catch up.

By the time we got back to the house, it was about quater past five. I unlocked the front door, let Honey off the lead and walked into the living room. Jack was home eirlier than usual, and was sitting on the sofa reading a letter, the envelope still on the coffee table.

"Hi" I said, sitting donw beside him.

"Hi" he replied, giving me a quick kiss on my cheek. I peered over his shoudler a the letter. I saw it was from Fabrizio and Helga (well, written by Fabrizio, Helga couldn't yet write in English very well).

"It's from Fabri and Helga" Jack said, though I already knew who it was from.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"He says they've saved enough money to travel down to Floridaand rent a small apartment. Helga's English has improved too, she's bought a few books to help her carry on learning whilst they're in Florida"

"That's great" I repleid. "We should reply. We haven't told them about the wedding yet. We'll have to have them here for it"

"Yeah, we should. I'm gonna ask him to be best man"

"That's great! I've decided to ask Selina, Lucy and Rachel to be bridesmaids"

"That's great too. Lucy'll love wearing a bridesmaid dress" I knew she would too. That little girl had a thing for fancy dresses.

"She would have done much better in first class than I did at her age!"

"Yeah, she probrably would have.I doubt she would have snuck out to play in trees with the stable boy" I couldn't help but laugh.

"No, she wouldn't" I said. I paused for a moment and then sniffed the air. "Can you smell something?" I asked. Jack sniffed the air too.

"Yeah... Smells like... fish?" We both looked at eachother and darted to the kitchen- but we were too late. In the kitchen, Honey had raided the ice box and was eating the salmon we had bought for dinner that night, oblivious to the fact that she had been caught. Jack and I just looked at eachother.

***

June 15th 1912

"How about this one?" Rachel asked, holding up a floaty white wedding dress with long, swirly sleeves and a short train. I considered.

"Um... No, it's not really what I'm looking for" I replied. Rachel and I had gone to the wedding boutique in a nearby town looking for the perfect wedding dress. I knew I wanted my wedding to be the best day of my life, didn't every bride? But I wanted my dress to be something I wanted to wear, not to be something I had to wear because it was the latest fashion or made me look good. We had been at it for about 2 hours now, with little luck. In my mind, they were al the same. All the same, traditional white dressesw tih trains and extra lacy bits. I wanted something differant.

"How about one that isn't white?" I asked Rachel. She raised her eyebrows.

"Well, maybe, but white is supposed to be the traditional wedding colour It symbolises purity"

"Well, I want my wedding to be something unique that I will remember forever. And, well, the white would be a bit of a lie, I'm not exacty pure anymore" Rachel's eyebrows raised further still.

"You mean, you and Jack have already... you know?" I nodded timidly. Rachel looked a little shocked, if a little impressed.

"Wow! Before I married Richard, my parents insisted we sleep in seperate rooms"

"Well, we haven't exactly got parents to make us do that" Rachel looked a bit pitiful.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Are they dead?"

"Well, Jack's parents and my father are. And I don't realy stay in contact with my mother. Anyway, how about a light blue dress?" I was quick to change the subject, not wanting to go into detail about my mother. Rachel took the hint and we moved on to a differant section of the shop.

We broused through the dress, pulled one out every so often, trying on a couple, but with not much luck. Until, my eyes fell upon a vision of beauty. It was a truly gorgeous dress. It was sky blue with a low cut neckline. Sky blue chiffon was used to make a tight top that ended just below my bust, and the rest was several layers of loose, swirly chiffon forming a loose, swirly skirt that would hide my stomach if I was nine months pregnant instead of 3. The skirt ended at my ankles, making it easy to manage whislt walking. The layers of chiffon used in the skirt were all slightly differant shades of blue, creating a wonderful colour effect. The sleeves were tight around my shoudlers but loose and swirly around the rest of my arms. Right then, my mind was made up. This was the dress I wanted to wear on the happiest day of my life. I asked the slales asisstant for one in my size and rushed to the changing rooms with it.

I slipped the dress on and did the bittons up. I looked at myself in the mirror, holding my breath, hoping it looked good on me. gasped at the sight of myself in the mirror. It was like a completely differant person staring back at me. The blue material really complimented the shade of red in my hair and the shape of the dress really suited my body. I never really thought of myself as pretty, I had been put down so many times by Mother that it made me feel downright ugly, but I couldn't help thinking to myself as I stared into the mirror, damn, I look beautiful!

I hurridly changed out of the dress and back into my everyday one. I left the changing room joined Rachel, who was waiting at the counter.

"Well? How is it?" she asked.

"I love it!" I replied with a smile. "This is the one I want. It's perfect in every way, even the price!" The price was very reasonable, considering the beauty of it and the fact tht we were currently on a budget.

I paid for the dress and took it home wrapped in tissue paper in a box. Jack had taken Honey out for a walk when I got back, and I quickly hid it upstairs in my wardrobe. I didn't want Jack to see it, I beleived in bad luck on a wedding day!

When the dress was safely hidden, I decided to ride Kara into the village for some groceries. I saddled up the horse and rode down the country paths to the village centre. There was a special area for horses to be left, where they could rest and drink from a trough, watched over by an attendant to prevent theives from taking them. I left Kara there and walked into the grocery shop to buy some food.

"Afternoon, Rose", came the cheery voice of Elizabeth Carter, he sales girl.

"Hi, Elizabeth" I replied, and walked towards the fruit and veg section first.

A few minutes later, I was brousing through the tinned food shelves, absent mindedly humming quietly to myself, when I bumped into someone. The tins I was carrying were knocked out of my hands as we collided and I bent down to pick them up.

"Sorry" I apologized, not looking up at the person. "Didn't see you there" I expected the person to say "That's alright" vaguely and move on, but instead, they said rudely. "You silly girl, mind where you're going in future!"

I looked up at the person. Of course, such a rude tone could only belong to Mr Thompson. He was looking at me like I was below him, scum in his presence.

"Well, excuse me, but I beleive it was you who should look where you are going" I said, adopting my upper class voice to match his rude, pompous tone. He gave me a glare, and started to move on. Suddenly, he stopped. He whipped his head around at me, his eyes narrowed in concentration as though he were studying every detail of me. His eyes wandered particularly towards my curly red hair. Then he gave a suspicious "Hmm" and walked away, apearing deep in thought. Odd, I thought. He usually can't wait to take his eyes off us common folk.

I paid for my groceries, clelcted Kara and rode home again, thinking about the suspicious encounter. Unless he had had an episoden of de-ja-vu, Mr Thompson seemed to find something odd about me. Or farmiliar, I suddenly thought. I felt my heart skip a beat in panic and began riding faster, pushing the very thought out of my mind, refusing it to be true.

I flung myself down on the sofa when I reached the house, leaving the groceries abandoned on the table. I cupped my head in my hands, raking my brains for a reasonable excuse to prove my theory wrong. I thought the whole thing through thoroughly before I jumped to conclusions.

I'd suddenly remembered the posters Cal had had displayed in New York, asking for information about my whereabouts. I'd thought that maybe he had begun advertising wider, maybe even nation wide. And if so, the first people he would contact would be his cronies. Cal was a man with many allies. He was the sort of person who beleived that you could control the world, if you knew the right people. And Mr Thompson was deffinately the sort of person Cal would consider a must-know. A well off buisnessman with a large industry and a large chunk of money, exactly the sort of person who would be good to have in his circle of "freinds". So, say that Cal had good connections with Mr Thompson, and had written to his cronies asking them to be on the look out for a 18 year old girl with curly red hair. I remembered how Mr Thompson had suddenly stopepd and studied me, particularly my red hair, which had always been my most noticable feature. I prayed to God that I was wrong, but I had a horrible feeling that Mr Thompson knew who I was, and that he would inform back to the man who had made the last year and a half of my life Hell, the man who I knew would hunt me down to the end of the Earth; Caledon Hockley.


	20. Chapter 20

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Here's the latest chapter then. I'm sorry it's not the longest chapter in the world but I'm feeling a bit withdrawn from writing at the moment, for various reasons.**

**By the way, I should point out that Mr Thompson's first name is Robert. I didn't plan on giving him a first name, but due to recent events, I decided to name this particular character after someone I know. I won't say who or why, because I don't like to name and shame people online. But he is every bit as horrible as Mr Thompson. Just thought I'd add that fact.**

**Anyway, here's chapter 18!**

June 15th 1912

Mr Thompson's POV

For a while now, I'd wondered about that girl. I knew from the start that there was something odd about her, about the way she spoke, the way she held herself. She seemed to be of a higher class than these village people. I had wondered, but hadn't said anything.

I thought of telling her to go back to where she came from, she didn't belong here with these people. She belonged with the rich and the known. Not here. I prided myself of considering myself to be the highest classed persopn in Chippewa Falls, and this Rose was getting in my way.

On the morning on June 15th, I found a letter in my post sealed inside a sophisticated envelope, with a Philadelhpia postmark. When I opened it, I found it to be written on personalised stationary, printed, not written, and the contents of the leter was most interesting. It was from a friend of mine. When one wants to make it big in the world, one has to be picky about one's friends. And the person who this letter was from was a definate must know. The rich steel tycoon, Caledon Hockley. I knew him well, had contributed to his buisness, and he to mine, but we rarely kept in touch. To have a letter from him now made it all the more interesting.

In the letter, he spoke of his fiancee, who had gone missing after the sinking of the Titanic. He was most anxious to find her again, as he feared her emotional welbeing would get the better of her and she would do something dangerous. He asked that any information I had of her wearabouts be reported back to him as soon as possible. I also noted that a big reward was being offered for her safe return. He discribed her appearance; light green eyes, a slim build, with long, red curly hair. I suddenly had an image of Rose Dawson in my head, I looked over the details of Rose DeWitt Buckator and matched them to the details of Rose Dawson. She was a perfect match, in all but two ways. The first was that Rose DeWitt Buckator had a slim build, whereas Rose Dawson was just starting to show she was pregnant (the stupid girl, she wasn't even married yet!). The second, was her name. But when I did some thinking, I came up with the solution that she had changed her sirname to hide her true identity. Yes, it all made sense! Rose Dawson was Rose DeWitt Buckator! I had found Hockley's missing fiancee!

I raced upstairs to my study and hurridly wrote out a letter to Hockley explaining his fiancee's disguise and how to get to Chippewa Falls. I knew the girl didn't belong here right from the start, and now I was sending her back to where she belonged.


	21. Chapter 21

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Hi guys! Here's the latest chapter. Again, short, I know, but it's the content that matters, not the size! By the way, any suggestions or tips are appriciated, anything that will help make the story a better read for you. REVEIW PLEASE!**

June 21st 1912

Santa Monica, California

Cal's POV

The last two months had been the most frustrating of my life. I felt like my whole world was crumbling around me. Everything had gone wrong.

Back at the start of April I had it all made out. I was rich, powerful, was destined to marry into a well-respected family, nothing, it seemed, could have gone wrong. But it did.

I wish now I had never bought tickets back to America on that blasted ship. How could I have let this happen? My fiance stolen, right from under my nose, by a worthless gutter rat. When I didn't find either of them on the Carpathia, I was comforted by the fact that they were dead at the bottom of the Atlantic, as they deserved. But once word got out about what had happened aboard the ship, things began to change People began to talk. I was stared at by the most respected members of high society. They smiled and said hello as normal, but I could see it in their eyes, they no longer saw me as a rich, respected steel tycoon, but as the man who had had his fiance stolen by someone beneath him. I walked with my head held high, but inside I was burning.

Then in New York, I found them both to be alive. At the time I was drinking large amounts of brandy. It was my only comfort, I foun getting drunk to be a way of numbing the constant ache inside my head. Anyway, after discovouring them to be alive, I set about my plan. I was determined now. All was not lost after all. I had enough money to win Rose back. I could afford all the advertising and police I wanted. My fist act was to go to the police station that same night and have Missing posters printed in their hundreds. Then I had them distributed all over the city. And with such a high reward price, surely someone would come forward with information, right?

No such luck. After finding the posters to be of little success, I tried phase two. I was still drinking heavily a the time, and after an unbeleivable amount of investigating, I managed to track down one of Rose's friends who lived in New York. Nathan Calvert. It took a while, but I eventually got him to tell me where Rose was. He told me they were heading for California, to Santa Monica.

I made my way to the seaside town as fast as I could, bringing with me, a hired private investigator and the new valet I had hired. He was good, I admitt, but not a patch on Lovejoy, who had died carrying out my orders. I was restless the whole journey. I felt certain I had finally caught them at last.

But again, another dead end. I searched the whole town, top to bottom. I asked at all the guest houses, every hotel, even begining to interrogate the locals and tourists. After finding another dead end, I was getting frustrated. It was like an endless game of Cat and Mouse. I was preparing to make my way back to New York to investigate further, when I received a letter from a not so close freind who lived in a small, remote area of Wisconsin called Chippewa Falls. The letter brought joy to me, and a sense of victory. It seemed that I finally had them cornered. My freind, Robert hompson, he was called, wrote that she was usng the false name, Rose Smith, and that he thought she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. And with that glorious, glorious news, I began to plan my route to Wisconsin.

I had to plan it out carefully. After the last couple of failures, I didn't want this one to be messed up too. I decided to take my time planning the ambush, as Rose seemed to be staying put for now. I decded I would make it as quick and easy as possible. I turn up at the most unexpected time possible, and hopefully, the sight of my gun would be enough to scare Rose into coming back to Philadelphia with me and becoming my wife.

I couldn't wait to have Rose back in my life. My life now become almost unbearable now I was constantly shadowed by Ruth DeWitt Buckator. That woman was the most annoying woman I had ever met, and whom I only put up with because she may refuse the marridge if I offended her. I had to put up with her mindless chattwer about who was doing what and she was forever planning the wedding as if Rose was upstairs right that moment. It was becoming unbearable. Of course, I had to drag that woman along with me when I went to Santa Monica, and we would have left for New York a lot sooner if Ruth hadn't insisted on staying for just a little longer to meet some well-knowns in the area, something I said was pointless but she said that it was ood to be known with peope across the country. Honestly! As if she didn't know enough people already!

The day I showed her the letter from Mr Thompson we were sitting in the small lounge of the state hotel suite we were rentng in Santa Monica, and after reading the letter she nearly exploded with delight. She was ever so pleased to hear of her daughter's whereabouts.

"Well, we must leave at once!" she cried and turned to leave and supervise the maids packing.

"Ruth, we can't leave yet. We must plan our strategy" I insisted. She looked at me with surprise.

"Mr Hockley, you talk as though we are launching an attack" she said, giving a small laugh at the absurdity of it. _Oh, if only you knew_, I though to myself.

"Of course not, Ruth. I am mearly saying that we do not want to startle Rose, after the unfortunate insidants aboard the Titanic" Ruth nodded in aggreement.

"Ah, yes, I see your point. A wise moove, who knows what state she'll be in, having to live amungst the common people when she is used the the splendor of society"

"I quite agree. I plan to travel to this Chippewa Falls sometime around mid- July. I trust you will accompany me?"

"Why of course. This is, after all, my daughter we are talking about. And dispite her mistakes, I am determined to be there to see her back on the straight and narrow" I nodded in agreement, and lit a cigar. Taking a long drag on it, I thought through my plan so far in my head...


	22. Chapter 22

July 8th 1912

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin

Jack's POV

The days were warmer, the skies were clearer and the whole countryside was rich in flwers and animals. Summer had finally arrived. Summer in Chippwea Falls was a time when the market was full of summer fruits and people would swim in the warm waters of Lake Wissota. It was everyone's favourite season, except Mr Thompson. He would complain that the heat was costing him a fortune in water for his crops and was spoiling his meat. Stubborn old git.

He had been acting strangely around us recently. He would give a triumphant smirk whenever he saw us, particularly when he saw Rose. I kept wondering what he was thinking but I never guessed. Rose seemed nervous when she saw him too, but she insisted nothing was wrong when I repeatedly asked her.

Honey was the only other living thing besides Mr Thompson who dispised the heat. Poor dog, she was stuck in her golden fur, which Rose was about ready to cut off, after removing the amount of golden hairs that had littered the house whilst Honey shedded her winter coat. Honey woud hide under the shade all day, gulp down bowl after bowl of water, and panted for all she was worth. We now only walked her at dusk, the coolest time of day. Even so, Honey still tired quicker because of the steadily rising temperature.

The other animals suffered because of the heat too. Dispite having sheered the sheep, they still crammed under the shade of the trees at the edge of their feild. Rose and I built a makeshift shelter for them, a hastidly built thing, but at least it created enough shade for all the sheep to shelter under. We also built one for the cows and the horses when the first one proved a success.

A week ago, we had purchased several hens and a rooster from a nearby farm, and we began to sell some of the eggs to the grocery store. This extra money was welcome; we wanted to save as much as possible for when Rose had the baby. The money from both of our jobs and from selling the eggs added to a fair amount. We wouldn't be rich, but we wouldn't go hungry either.

The day before, Nathan, Selina and Lucy had arrived for the wedding, which would be in two days. They had brought Rosie with them too, so she and Honey could see eachother again. Lucy was amazed to see how Honey had grown, but she still loved playing with both dogs. Rosie seemed surprised to see how her daughter had grown aswell, but they still recognised eachother and were almost inseperable for the time they were togeather.

After breakfast that morning, I went to the station with the two dogs to meet Fabrizio and Helga. It was a fairly warm morning, and the temperature was set to increase, but it would still be below the temperature they would have gotten used to in Florida.

I waited on the platform until their train finally pulled into view. I looked for them in the crowds until I spotted them.

"Fabrizio! Helga!", I shouted, getting their attention. They hurried over, each of them carrying a suitcase.

"Jack! It is good to be seeing you again!" Fabrizio said delightedly, embracing me tightly.

"Good to see you too" I replied. "Hello, Helga" I decided to test her English.

"Hello, Jack" she replied clearly. In spite of her thick French accent, she was clearly at ease with speaking basic English.

As we walked back, they told me about Florida.

"It is a wonderful place" Fabrizio said as we walked up the dirt path. "It has wonderful long beaches and clear blue waters and the people are very nice too"

"Yes, they are very... er... funny" Helga added, looking round at the wide feilds and the animals inside them.

"It is nice to be back in the sun", Fabri mentioned. I knew he had missed the sun whilst we were travelling through Europe." That was the only thing I miss from Italia, the warm sun"

"Well, it's pretty warm here too at the moment. The dogs hate it though" I added.

"Ah yes, I still haven't been introduced to your dogs" Fabri said, patting Honey's head, who licked his hand back.

"Well, this is Honey, the pup we got from Nathan in New York. You'll meet him soon, he's already here with his wife, Selina and their daughter Lucy" I explained, giving Honey a scratch behind her ear. She licked my hand atoo and nuzzled against my leg, loving the attention. "And this is Rosie" I contnued, giving Rosie a stroke along her sleek black back. "She's Nathan's dog, and Honey's mother" Fabri looked surprised.

"I did not guess that. They are so differant!" he said.

"Well, Labs can come in three differant colours; yellow, like Honey, black, like Rosie, or chocolate brown"

"Ah, that is interesting" Helga chipped in. "I am liking dogs much but I am liking cats more. They are... er... easier"

She had a point. Honey was hard work. A cat would be so much easier. But you can't take a cat out for a walk and wrestle with it on the floor. They took themselves out and did as they pleased. Dogs were much more sociable.

When we finally reached the house, Rose was in the chicken coop, collecting the morning's eggs, with Lucy helping by holding the basket for her. When she saw us, she put the last of the eggs in the basket and came over to us, Lucy running along in her wake.

"Ah, Rose! How are you?" Fabri asked, hugging her.

"I'm fine, thanks" she replied, going to hug Helga. "How are you two?"

"We are fine, thank you" Fabri replied. "This is a nice farm you have" He was looking at the hosue and barn in turn.

"Thank you" Rose said. She loved people complimenting the house and farm.

Lucy, who had been occupying herself with the dogs until now, finally noticed the two strangers. She looked up at them suspiciously.

"Hello" Helga said, smiling at her. "What's your name?" Without answering, Lucy turned and ran back inside the house as fast as she could.

"That was odd" Rose said. "She's usually a lot friendlier than that"

"Maybe she's shy" Fabri suggested. "I remember my little sister in Italy used to be like that. Barely talked to anyone"

"Maybe" Rose said vaguelly. "Let's go inside"

When we got inside, the dogs greeted us again by jumping up at us, something Honey was just abut broken out of by now. I guess she thught she could get away with things with another dog in the house. I pushed her down and scolded her. Nathan, Selina and Luc were in the living room, where we introduced them to Fabri and Helga. Lucy was sitting in the armchair by the window, happy to be left out of it. Selina noticed her withdrawal and asked her daughter what was wrong.

"They're strangers" she said, pointing at Fabri and Helga. "You said never to speak to strangers"

Selina couldn't help but smile at her daughter's common sense. "Yes, you must never speak to strangers, but these aren't strangers, these are our friends" Lucy raised one eyebrow.

"I don't know them"

"Well, this is Fabrizio and Helga" Selina continued, pointing to them both in turn.

"Oh, OK " Lucy was suddenly relaxed and took an instant liking to her two new friendS.

Later that day, after lunch, Rose and I gave the others a tour of the farm and surrounding countryside. Lucy was wildly excited and had to be told to calm down several times. Being born and raised in New York, she was amazed at the new country surroundings and was overwehlmed by the size of the horses, which she had only seen pictures of in books. She loved them nonetheless, and was very disapointed when the sun began to set and we had to go back home.

That evening, after dinner, we showed them around the small town and introduced them to some of the people we knew. We walked past Mr Thompson along the way, who gave us the usual curious behaviour he had adopted over that past few weeks. I told the other who he was, and them swiftly changed the topic. I was begining to wondor about that man more and more...

We finally got back at around ten, by which time everyone was tired, especialy Lucy, who had to be carried home on her father's back. We were living in a crowded house now. Even with the room we had, it was still cramped at times. Especially at meal times, when extra chairs from upstairs had to be crammed around the table in the kitchen. Rose and I slept in the main bedroom, Nathan and Selina shared one of the smaller bedrooms with Lucy crammed in with them, and Fabrizio and Helga shared the last remianing bedroom. The two sofas were available downstairs to anyone who wanted them, as the smaller bedrooms were not really made for a pair of adults, especially not for two adults and a toddler thrown in.

The dogs slept downstairs. Honey had made herself a bed the first night we spent in the house, using the space below the shelves inside the linen cupboard as a sort of den. She took in upon herlsef to pull the linen sheets down from the lower shelves to use as her own bedding. When Rose took these sheets away to be washed, it was not uncommon for her to find a discarded milk-bone hidden in there. Honey and Rosie shared the space quite comfortably togeather.

That night, when everyone was in bed, Rose finally told me the truth. I was just drifting off when Rose shook my shoulder, saying she needed to talk. I turned over and asked her what was wrong. I saw the look on her face. I could tell it was something that had her worried and their was plain fear in her eyes.

"What is it?" I asked, concerned now. She took a deep breath.

"It's about... Mr Thompson" I was suddenly wide awake. Perhaps she was about to tell me why he had been acting so wierd around us.

"I- I think he knows" she stammered, her voice shaking. I felt my stomach twist. How could he know?

"How could he know?" I asked her. I could see her eyes begining to shine with tears, even in the semi-darkness. I sat up and put my arm around her. She leaned against me and continued.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you this earlier, but I thought I was wrong. I thought he didn't know" She was confusing me now.

"Rose, tell me why. Why do you think he knows?" She breathed out shakily and told me everything.

"Well, when I went into town to buy some groceries about a month ago, I bumped into him and he srot of stared at me, like he recognised me. He just looked at me and them he left the shop, looking like he was in a hurry. And now, the way he looks at us, like he knwos something we don't, it made me think that... that..." She had to stop and calm down for a minute. I could see she was starting to panic. I hugged her tightly and comforted her as best I could until she could carry on.

"When I saw the way he looked at me, I couldn't help thinking that maybe he knew Cal. He's always saying he has friends in high places, what if Cal is one of them? He could have old Cal where we are! Ca, could be on his way here right now!" She burst into tears, overwehlmed with panic. I huged her tight, stroking her red curls.

"Rose, it's OK" I said, rying to calm her. I didn't know what to say. What she said made sense, there was every chance that Mr Thompson knew Cal and had tld him of our whereabouts, but I couldn't tell Rose that, she was scared enough as it was.

"Oh, what are we goign to do?" Rose said, finally calming down. "We can't let him get us, we can't! If he makes me go back with him, I'll be trapped again, and he could kill our baby!" She broke into a fresh load o tears, her arms wrapped protectively around her stomach. I lifted her head and made her look at me

"Rose, he's not going to kill our baby because that's not going to happen. I promise, I won't let that evil bastard anywhere near you. He'll have to kill me before I let him take you" Rose smiled a little and hugged me again.

"He already tried that, and he still didn't manage it" she said, giving a small laugh.

"See? If he can't seprate us once, how can he do it again? Don't worry, you're safe here" I said it to reassure her but secretly, I was as worried as she was.

If Mr Thompson had given us away to Cal, then he could be on his way here right now. I immediately told myself that I would not let Rose out of my sight. I loved her with everything I had and I would protect her with mylife if I had to. Though I hoped to God it wouldn't come to that. I fell asleep praying that Cal was a million miles away, as far away from us as possible.


	23. Chapter 23

**AUTHOR'S NOTE – Hii, guys! I know, guilty of all charges! I kind of abandoned this story for a while as I couldn't think of anything to put. I had a severe case of writer's block. Plus I began writing another story, "One Lucky Girl – Violet's Titanic Tale" about the true story of Violet Jessop (which I will continue!), so I'm kinda stretched to the limit right now! But I'm doing my best!**

**Just a quick thanks to all you guys who review my story, it's nice to know I'm writing a story people like, and that I'm not wasting my time on a story no one's interested in. So, thanks guys, you really help me! Also, a special thanks to Bohemian Anne for editing my chapters as I write them and posting them on her own website, her tips really help me too. So, thanks again!**

**OK, here's the next chapter!**

July 9th 1912

Rose's POV

Despite Jack's reassurance, I was still worried about what Mr Thompson must know. I couldn't help thinking that he had already told Cal where we were. Heck, Cal could be in the village right that minute, ready to come and take me back to Philadelphia with him.

To take my mind off my worry, I threw myself into preparing for the wedding, somehow always finding more jobs for myself. With my worries mixed with pre-wedding nerves and the extra hormones of pregnancy, I was a nervous wreck! I could hardly stop my hands shaking. I'd spilled my cup of tea, twice, dropped the half filled basket of eggs whilst collecting them , had scared Honey half to death my accidently treading on her tail whilst she was sleeping sprawled out on the shady front porch, where she spent most hot afternoons, and had triggered an unexpected bout of pregnancy sickness.

"Rose, calm down!" Selina urged me after I pricked my finger for the 5th time with a sewing needle. "You're not doing yourself or the baby any favours"

We were putting the final touches on the bridesmaids' dresses, which were originally plain light blue dresses bought from a clothes shop, but Selina and I spent most of the morning adding touches to then to make them look nice. By the time we were finished, I thought they looked perfect. Lucy loved hers as soon as she saw it, but we drew the line at letting her wear it there and then.

The day before the wedding, Molly arrived from Denver early in the morning and surprised us by turning up at the farm unexpectedly after asking directions from Mrs Ryan. Molly was staying with Mrs Ryan for the next few days whilst she was here. If we'd had the room, we'd have asked if she wanted to stay with us, but our house was filled to the brim already, what with 6 adults, one over excited little girl and 2 energetic Labradors. Mrs Ryan was over the moon at having Molly stay in her guest house. She was delighted to be living under the same roof as such a well known member of Society. Molly attracted stares throughout the village. Her expensive clothes and jewellery were enough to make her seem out of place, but the fact that she was such a well known figure made her more noticeable.

Molly was a big help in preparing for the wedding. She was great at organising things, giving us all jobs to do and seeing that they were all done. All of us helped with the preparations, even Lucy, who trailed after her mother, helping however she could. She couldn't do much giving her age, but she was happy to lend a hand with little things like fetching and carrying small things, and mostly keeping the dogs out of our way. Poor Honey and Rosie were neglected a bit the day before the wedding. Everyone was so caught up in their own jobs that the poor dogs missed out on the constant belly rubs and wrestling matches they were used to. Honey, the sneaky devil, decided that this meant she could get away with acting in ways we'd forbidden her to do, especially her favourite habit, helping herself to the food cupboards. We put her straight as soon as we saw the old habits resurfacing, and instructed Lucy to tell her off when she saw her misbehaving.

At around midday, Selina, and Helga disappeared into the kitchen and forbade any of the rest of us from entering until they were finished. Since they were the two best bakers out of all of us, they took it upon themselves to bake the wedding cake. As much as I pleaded, they refused to let me in, stating a bride shouldn't have to bake her own cake. Lucy drifted in and out of the room over the afternoon, but wasn't fooled by my trying to sweet talk her into spilling the beans.

Finally, I gave up. After finding there was nothing else to do, I decided to take the dogs for a short walk. They'd put up with not being the centre of attention all day, so I decided they deserved a good long run in one of the fields. We'd learnt the hard way that the cattle field was off limits for Honey. The first time we took Honey into the field with them, one of them had seen her as a threat and had given her a kick in the side. She was lucky, a kick from a cow could be horribly painful, but after an evening of rest with a chunk of ice wrapped in a cloth pressed to the bruise, Honey was fully recovered from the blow.

I walked the dogs through the countryside to a favourite spot of mine. It was a sloping field with a hill overlooking Lake Wissota. I loved that spot because it was so calm and peaceful there. And the view was wonderful. You couldn't see the village from the hill, just the crystal blue waters of the lake and endless hills in the distance. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

When we approached the hill, I could see a lone figure sitting at the top of the hill, looking out towards the lake. I could tell from there that it was Jack. I climbed up the hill with the dogs, sitting down beside Jack.

"Hi", he said when he saw it was me. Honey clambered into his lap, eager to make up for the playtime she'd missed out on that day.

"Hi" I replied. "What are you doing up here?"

"I could ask you the same question"

"The dogs needed a walk. And I like coming up here sometimes. It's quiet enough to think"

"Yeah, me too..."

"I can't believe that this time tomorrow, we'll be married!" I said excitedly. As nervous as I was, I was buzzing with excitement at the thought.

"Yep, and then I'm stuck with you for good" Jack joked. I playfully hit him on the arm and he hit me back. Honey decided this was the start of a wrestling match, and pounced on us eagerly, wanting to join in. We wrestled with her on the grass to keep her happy, whilst Rosie had fallen asleep a few metres away, too mature for childish games.

By the time we'd tired Honey out, it was late afternoon. When we finally decided to head back to the farm, Selina and Helga were finally finished in the kitchen. I raced inside, desperate to see what they'd baked. I gasped when I saw the cake. It was a medium sized 2 layer cake, a simper jam sponge covered in a base of white icing with blue and green (my favourite colours) swirls improvised by painting them on with a paintbrush. They had sent Lucy into the field next to the house earlier, and she had come back with a handful of daisies which were placed decoratively on top of the cake. Selina had taken her own blue hair ribbon and had tied it around the top layer, a perfect final touch. It was the sort of cake Mother would have called tacky a cheap, but I loved it. It was a million times better than the expensive one Mother had ordered from a posh French baker in Philadelphia. Just another part of a wedding I was being forced into, to a man I didn't love, with nothing the way I wanted it to be. How different it was to the wedding I would be having the next day! I was having a wedding I truly wanted, getting married to a man I truly loved, with everything the way I wanted it. That was how every woman wants her wedding to be. And that was how mine would be. I had only one regret.

As happy as I was to be getting married, I was sad that I wouldn't have any of my family there. My father was dead, and it wasn't as though my mother would want to have anything to do with it. She just couldn't understand that I wanted to marry for love, not money. Some people like Molly, married for love and happened to have money thrown in, but I didn't care about that. When it came to that, Mother and I were poles apart. As much as I hated her, I couldn't help wishing she was going to be there. And I very much wished my father was going to be there. Yes, he had left us with a legacy of bad debts, he was my father, and he was such a friend to me. He was there to comfort me when Mother was in one of her moods with me, and when he died, I felt like a huge part of me died with him. If I had one wish, I knew what I'd wish for. I'd wish my daddy would with me on my wedding day.


	24. Chapter 24

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Yes, guilty again! I've shut you guys in the dark for weeks, but unfortunately, fanfiction isn't my whole life. Beleive me, I'd love to sit here all day writing stories but unfortunately, some smart ass in the govournment decided I have to spend my days locked inside school until I'm 16. :( **

**And I know very well that after you guys read this chapter, you'll probrably all want me dead, but I thought it would be intresting to do this. As you'll notice, I've skipped out writing about the wedding. It's not that I couldn't be bothered, it's just that I thought it would be intresting for you guys to imagine what it would be like yourself, using the details I've written in for you. I know how frustrating it is when an author writes an event you've been imagining for yourself, and it's nothing like you wanted it to be. So this way, everyone's happy! Including me, as I've never been to a wedding and know nothing about what it's really like. So please don't plot my asasination for this! And I'll do my best to update sooner next time! **

**Anyway, here's the enxt chapter, begining the day after the wedding.**

July 11th 1912

Jack's POV

I woke up the next morning to sound of Rosie's barking. Turned out that dog loved barking at the chickens. I rolled over to see Rose was still asleep, a content smile on her face. Our clothes still lay discarded on the floor, you can probrably guess what happened the night before. I lay on my side, watching Rose sleep, thinking how lucky I was to have her as my wife. I thought back to when I first met her, I'd never dreamed back then that that rich upper-class girl would choose to spend the rest of her life with me.

After a few minutes, Rose began to stir. She opened her gorgeous sea coloured eyes and smiled at me.

"Good morning" she muttered happily.

"Good morning, Mrs Dawson" I replied, kissing her on the lips. She kissed me back, and it soon became as passionate as the night before.

A while later, we finally dragged ourselves out of bed and joined the others downstairs. We might have got married the day before, but a farm wouldn't run itself, and to wasn't fair to expect the others to do the work. We were greeted into the kitchen by Honey and Rosie, who were waiting patiently for their breakfast which Nathan was preparing for them. Selina was sitting at the table with Lucy, who was examining her boiled egg with intrest. Having only ever eaten eggs that had been boguht in a shop, she seemed fascinated by a farm fresh egg with a smudged shell. Apparently it still tasted good, because it was gone in 5 minutes flat.

"Morning!" Nathan said cheerily as we walked in.

"Morning" we replied. We started preparing our own breakfast, dodging out of the way of the two excited dogs.

"Had a good night then?" Nathan asked teasingly.

"Nathan!" Selina frowned, but couldn't help smiling.

"Sorry" Nathan apologised, trying not to laugh as Rose blushed a deep shade of red.

"What's so funny, Daddy?" Lucy asked innocently.

"Oh, nothing, sweetie" Nathan said vaguelly. Lucy looked puzzled by everyone else's awkward looks, wondering what she'd said wrong.

Nathan said Fabrizio and Helga had gone to explore the town for a while, and they'd sai they'd be gone for most of the day. Fair enough, neither of them had seen American countryside before. Though I couldn't help wondering what would keep them occupied for most of the day. Yes, there was the countryside to walk through, but that was hardly how I'd spend the whole day. Then again, maybe I'd just gotten used to it.

It was all a bit too normal that day. I fed and groomed the horses, cleaned out the cow trough, mucked out the stable, all the time trying not to trip over Honey, who wouldn't leave my side for most of the day. If I hadn't been for the ring on my finger, I'd have wondered if the previous day had actually happened. It hadn't escaped my mind that most people went on holiday after their wedidng, a honeymoon. However, with the farm to look after and a baby to support, we couldn't afford it right now. Rose and I had made the agreement that we'd make up for it when we could afford it, but I still felt guilty that we couldn't go away now. If she'd been with Cal, they would have had a honeymoon straight after the wedding. I knew comapring myself to Cal would get me nowhere, but I couldn't help thinking Rose would be beter off with him...

I shook the idea right out of my head as soon as I thought it. How could I think that? Rose had made her choice entirely by herself. She had chosen me, not him. She didn't care about money. Cal was violent, he didn't care about her, heck, she was commiting suicide the night I emt her! What sort of life would that have been, money or not? One she would have rather died than live with.

***

Fabrizio and Helga returned at about four o'clock that afternoon. They looked tired, but pleased.

"Had a good day?" Rose asked them when they came in the door.

"Wonderful!" Fabri repleid with delight. "The veiws from the tops of the hills are beautiful, makes me wish I had one of those cameras!"

"Yeah, they are pretty beautiful" Rose agreed.

"Did you go anywhere else?" I asked. It was Helga who replied.

"Yes, the markat" she said.

"Mar_ket, _Helga" Rose gently corrected her pronunciation.

"Yes, the market" Hela repeated. "It was lovely, some nice thigns for sale" she held up a brown paper bag of some things she'd bought. Turned out she'd bought a bottle of apple cider, apples grown in the local orched, an ornimental swan the size of a beer glass, carved by Bill Tucker, who's main passtime was wood carving, and a green beaded scarf, which was obviously sewn by Sarah, the teenage girl who worked for the seamstress. It was obvious she had made it as it was slightly uneven in places, the poor girl wasn't blessed in the brains department and hadn't fully gotten to grips with sewing yet.

The end of another normal day. The same as tomorrow would be. As much as I loved my life with Rose, I couldn't hlep missing my carefree lifestyle when I didn't know what would be around the corner. As much as I wanted to go back to that, I had repsonsibilities now. I couldn't let Rose have to live like that, and a life on the road was certainly no place for a child. And even though I missed the uncertainty of my old life, I loved my new one. After all, how could I hate it when I was married to Rose?

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Yes, a little short, but I'm gonna try and get the next one up later tonight (London time, here it's nearly 10pm right now). This one was mainly just picking up where I left off, you know, getting back on my feet. Will update as soon as I can. Meanwhile, please reveiw? Please? I need the support. You guys know how much it helps me!**


	25. Chapter 25

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Here's the next one then, guys. I won't drag on with boring writing like the last chapter, this one will be better, but I do love suspence! Mwahahahaha! **

***Awkward cough* Anyway, happy reading!**

July 20th 1912

Rose's POV

I was angry. I didn't have a good reason why, I didn't need a good reason why. I was just angry. The slightest little thing would set me off in recent days, anything. From a plate left unwashed in the sink to Honey's constant panic attacks. Before I'd always been patient with that dog, I'd soothed her and comforted her through her fears, but now I suddenly had no patience for her. I'd yell at her, I'd ignore her, I'd mutter curses under my breath as I stormed from the room as she began whimpering. I must have seemed like a monster, but I couldn't help it.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, Honey!" I screeched as she skidded into the kitchen with her muddy paws, all over my just cleaned kitchen floor. Shooing her out with the bristly end of a broom, I stared at the muddy prints on the floor and sighed. Throwing my mop down angrily, I stomped out of the kitchen into the living room. I couldn't be bothered anymore.

I stayed slumped on the sofa for the rest of the afternoon, staring into space. I was fuming, Why should I have to clean up Honey's dirty paw tracks? I didn't make them. And I decided I'd had enough of slave work. It makes me wonder how much of a monster I could have been, but a part of me wished I was back living my rich life. At least then I wouldn't be cleaning up after a cowardly dog all day. I was sick of working all day.

I'd had to resign from my job that week, my mood swings were taking their toll on the children I was teaching. I'd reduced one poor little girl to tears by loosing patience with her and shouting at her for doing the mime exercises wrong. I'd immediately been shocked by my behaviour and Rachel had gently suggested that it was best for me to leave work and rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. **(Alright, a quick author's note, it's very rare I do this, but just to put** **you straight, there was no maternity leave in those days. Women had to quit their jobs. Rachel didn't make Rose leave because she's her friend as well as her **_) __**boss)**_I snorted at the memory. Rest. Yeah, right.

At three months pregnant my stomach was starting to show a small round bump which was hard to hide. I remembered Madeleine Astor and how she'd tried in vain to hide her pregnancy. I wasn't going to hide mine, people were friendly round here and would congratulate you, but I couldn't help feeling gloomy at my extra weight.

I was still in a bad mood when Jack came home from work hours later. I didn't say anything, just continued to stare at nothing.

"Rose, what's wrong?" Jack asked, sitting down next to me.

"What's wrong?" I repeated, not looking at him. "What's wrong is I'm fed up. I'm sick of cleaning and working and constantly picking up the mess _that dog _creates, that's what's wrong!"

I enphisised the words "that dog" with disgust and loathing that I didn't even feel. Jack knew I didn't mean it. I adored Honey like she was my child. It was the extra hormones speaking.

"Rose, you don't mean that" Jack said, knowing I wasn't serious.

"I do!" I snapped back at him. "Just look what she's done to the kitchen! I spent ages cleaning the floor and she goes and wrecks it with her muddy paws! Well I've had enough of cleaning up after her! I'm sick and tired of doing nothing but work!"

I was exadurating. To be truthful, I didn't spend too much time cleaning the house, I'd made a routine of taking Honey for a walk in the feilds, I loved reading and writing, and I would sometimes dance around the house singing to myself whilst I worked. But I didn't care about those hobbies right then. I only saw work.

"And it's not like I get much help from you, either!" I continued.

"Well I've been at work all day, and I help you when I am here" Jack protested.

"No you don't!"

I was lying again. To be fair, Jack had willingly agreed to work some extra hours to make up for my lost wage, but he did help me out when he could.

We argued for several minutes, mainly me complaining and throwing wild accusations and Jack trying to convince me I was getting worked up over nothing. Which I was, but wouldn't admit.

"Oh, just leave me alone!" I shouted finally when I couldn't think of a good enough comment.

"Fine, I will!" Jack replied, and stormed from the house, slamming the door behind him. I immediately regretted it, hating myself for telling him to leave me alone. But I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of me admitting I was wrong. I didn't run after him, I sat down on the sofa with my arms folded, a determined look on my face, like a child who hadn't be allowed her own way.

It was amazing how little time it took for me to end up sprawled on the sofa, hugging a cushion and crying my heart out. I suddenly felt a cold wet nose nuzzle my neck. I looked up and saw Honey's golden face looking at me innocently. I pulled her up on the sofa, forgetting I was doing the very thing we'd so painstakingly trained her not to do. I hugged her tight and sobbed into her soft fur. She just let me cry into her, licking my tears away when I finally calmed down.

I sat up, my arms still wrapped around Honey, and sighed. I hadn't meant to yell like that, I didn't know what had come over me. I anxiously ran over in my head what I'd say when Jack finally decided to come back. I'd get down on my knees and say I was sorry a million times if I had to. Just to take my mind off things, I finally cleaned up the kitchen floor, having to work harder now as the mud had dried. Serves me right, I thought to myself. Suddenly, I heard a key unlock the front door. Breathing deeply, I walked into the hall and waited for Jack to come in. I gasped when the door opened. It wasn't Jack.

It was Cal.


	26. Chapter 26

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Here's th next chapter then! I deliberately made you guys wait a while because I love suspense! And I have been too busy to write up until now. But it's here now, so enjoy! P.S. I'm sorry if you think this is poorly writte, I'm not good with dealing with over emotional characters!**

Rose's POV

I stared in horror at Cal, the face who had haunted me since April. I couldn't beleive he was here. I was too shocked, and too scared to speak. He looked differant from when I had last seen him. He no longer looked like a wealthy gentlemen, but a drunken menace. His suit was crumpled, his hair was greasy and out of place, and a slight smell of whisky hung in the air around him. I wanted to run a mile at the mear sight of him, but fear kept my feet firmly planted to the ground.

I heard the clickety clack of Honey's toe nails on the floorboards and knew she had gone to hide under our bed from this stranger, and I just wished I could join her. Cal grinned evily.

"Hello, sweetpea, nice to see you too"

I finally found my voice.

"H-how did you get in?" I asked shakily, my voice all squeaky. Cal held up a cothes pin.

"I knew learning how to pick locks wuld come in handy some day. Now, Rose, just come quietly with me, and I won;t have to hurt you" His voice was calm but I could see right through it. And I wasn;t going anywhere with this unearthly devil.

"Go away Cal, leave me alone, I don't want anything to do with you!" I'd wanted it to sound brave and firm, but I was so cared it came out shaky and pleading.

"I don't think so, Rose" Cal said, not sounding any less evil. "You're coming back to Philadelphia with me where you belong"

"No I'm not. I'm staying here" I felt a little braver now, but was still terrified.

"But Rose, your mother and I miss you very much, you don;t know what state you;re mother is in, you;re killing her"

Damn it, Cal had decided to play the sympathy card. Well I wasn;t buying any of it. I loved my mother, even after all she'd done to me, but I couldn't go back to Philadelphia and lock myself back intide the guilt cage I had been inside all my life. Not even for her.

"No Cal! Never!"

A look that screamed anger filled Cal's face, a look that would have given me nightmares.

"Rose, you are coming back with me whether you like it or not. I didn;t want it to be this way, but..." he pulled out a small pistol from his coat pocket. OK, now I was bloody scared! Instinclively, I wrapped my arms around my middle without thinking, as though trying to protect the tiny baby inside me. Cal narrowed his eyes at me and put two and two togeather.

"You're pregnant!" he yelled in fury. "You little slut! You're pregnant before you;re evn married!"

A sudden unknown confidence made me raise my right hand to show Cal the gold wedding ring on my finger. He looked even more furious, if that was possible. He roared in rage.

"How dare you! You are engaged to me! You are MY WIFE!" he spat on the ground in his temper and thrust his fist through the glass window by the door. I let out a scream. Cal stormed towards me and threw his fist in my face. A burning pain seared through my cheekbone. the force of the blow forced me down to the floor. I huddled up against the wall as Cal stormed towards me, looking as though he wanted to kill me. I buried my face in my lap, tears puring down my face. Cal pulled me up by the top of my dress and pushed me up aainst the wall. He forced his evil enraged face right into mine.

"Well, no matter" he sneered. "You are coming back to Philadelphia with me, you will marry me, and when the little brat is born, we'll have it _taken care of_"

I knew exactly what that meant. Cal was going to kill my baby.

"No!" I gasped in terror. "You can't!"

"I can and I will" Cal laughed haughtily. He pulled me away from the wall, dragging me towards the door. I struggled desperately but he was too strong. I tried screaming for help, but our nearest neighbours were too far away to hear. Then suddenly, Cal screamed in pain and dropped me to the floor.

I landed hard on my side with a bump. Crawling back towards the wall away from Cal, who was twisting and writing in pain, I thanked God for my luck. I looked over at Ca through my blury, tear filled eyes. Nothing could have shocked me more at what I saw happening before my eyes. Honey, our cowardly dog who was scared of everything from thunder the water, hand lunged herself and Cal and was clinging to his back by her claws, digging hard into his skin. She was growling viciously, clawing at his back, ripping his clothes, furiously attacking and showing no mercy. Cal tried unsuccesssfully to throw her off, but she was too strong.

When Honey finally unlatched herself from him, she leaped to the floor and hurtled towards me. Instead of leaping into my arms with a cuddly, cheeky look on her face like she normally did, she turned her back to me, sheilding me from Cal with her golden frame and baring her teeth angrily at Cal. However, Cal wasn't going to let this one dog stand in his way. To my absolute horror, he pulled out his pistol, aimed... and fired.

"No!" I screamed at the top of my voice. The bullet hit Honey in her side, puncturing her beautiful body. She whined loudly in agony, and fell to the floor. I cried heavily at the sight of the first drop of bloody to fall from the hole in her fur. I struggled out from underneath her unconsious body, ripping most o my dress skirt and doing my best to stop the bloody flow before it could do too much damage. I tied the cloth tightly around her and cradled her head in my lap. I prayed in my head, begged with God to spare her life. She might have died to save me, this wonderful dog who I had yelled at angrily for dirtying the kitchen floor jsut hours eirlier. I looked up at Cal, who's face showed no guilt for his actions.

"How could you?!" I screamed at him. "You evil hearless son of a bitch!"

"Oh come on, Rose, it;s just a worthless mutt" he waved away his actions without a second thought. I was horrified at how monsterous one man could possibly be. I turned my back to him, focusing on Honey. I could see the blood starting to soak through the cloth I'd been using, and ripped more of my skirt off and added that to the current. I didn't see Cal standing behind me, aiming his pistol at my ankle. I guess he was going to shoot me in the ankle so I couldn't struggle away from him. But he never got the chance to fire. Because someone fired at him from behind.

The bang of the gun echoed through the house like the previous had. I whirled my head around in shock, expecting to see Cal as the firer, but was shocked to see Cal had falled to the floor, blood pouring from his leg. I looked up at the person who had shot him, and smiled with releif. It was Jim, the farmer who had previously owned Thunder and our closest neighbour. He must have heard Cal fire the gun at Honey and come to investigate. He held his rifle in his arms, which he kept incase of emergancies. And this was deffinately one of them! He smiled at me reassuringly and then gasped in horror. From his angle, all he could see was an obviously drunk and angry strange male and me on the floor, my cheeks tear stained and my skirt ripped almost all the way up the leg. I could guess what he;d been thinking, the same as what the stewards had thought the night Jack had saved me from suicide.

"Rose, are you alright?" he asked worridly, hurrying over to help me up. And then he saw Honey, unconsious with a make-shift bandage pressed against her side.

"My God! What on earth happened?!" he asked in shock. I was still in shock from the whole ordeal and just indicated Cal, who was unconsious on the floor, blood spilling from his leg. Jim worked out that Cal had shot her. He looked angry, but put it to one side for now.

"Right, Rose, go and get changed, I'll sort Honey out for now. Do you have any bandages? And some ice wrapped in a cloth" I hurriedly brought the things to Jima nd raced upstairs to change my torn skirt. Releif swelled inside me that Jim had rescued me, but I was still overwhelmed with worry for Honey. What if she died? I wouldn;t be able to live with myself knwoing she had died because of my problems with Cal.

I ran back downstairs again and saw that Jim had moved Honey onto the sofa and had replaced the torn peices of skirt with bandages and was holding the cloth wrapped ice to the wound. He looked at me when he saw me, concern in his eyes.

"Rose, what happened? Who is that man?" he asked with concern. I took a shuddery breath and roughly explained.

"So he came here to try and bring me back, but Honey jumped on him when he tried to drag me from the house" I told Jim, tears forming in my eyes again as I explained how Honey was shot. Jim left the ice on top of the wound and came and put his arm around me.

"It's OK Rose" he said comfortingly. "He won't hurt you now. And where's Jack?" he asked.,suddenly realising that he wasn't here"

"W-we had a fight. I don;t know where he is" I said, remembering our stupid argument earlier. Why had I got so angry over something so unimportant? It seemed so childish now. Jim looked furious that Jack had walked out and left me here.

"Right. Rose, I need you to go into the town as fast as you can, take one of the horses if you have to, and bring Dr Hopkinson, the vet, back here. Tell him what's happened to Honey, he'll be able to help her" Jim instructed.

I quickly pulled on my shoes and raced down to the stables. I decided to take Thunder; he was the fastest and Kara was asleep. I through the reigns onto his head, I didn;t bother with the saddle, and raced out of the farm and down towards the town.

I'd never been to the vet before and didn;t even know Chippewa Falls had one. Which is amazing in a town where practicly everyone knew everyone. I asked around and soon found Dr Hopkinson's surgery, which he lived alone in a flat above. The lights were off and I suspected he was sleep (it must have been about 10 o'clock by now). Nevertheless, I jumped off Thunder's back and hammered on the front door After a few minutes, a half-asleep, and slightly annoyed Dr Hopkinson answered. He was half dressed and looked like he'd just woken up.

"Yes?" he asked with a yawn.

"It's my dog, she;s been shot! She's bleedin badly, she needs help!" I hurriedly said in one breath. Dr Hopkinson heard me though and was sudeenly more awake.

"Right, give me a few minutes and I'll be on my way" he said and rushed off to ge dressed.

A few minutes later, he appeared at the door, dressed, his briefcase in hand. He loaned one of the horses from the town stables a minute's walk away and we raced back to the house.

When we arrived back at the house, Honey was awake, but going into shock. Her whole body quivered and she whined in pain, anxiously glancing around for a farmiliar face. Jim was trying to calm her, but she was terrfied now, unaware of what was going on. Mr Hopkinson stared for a moment at Cal, who was still unconsious and bleading. Then he rushed over to Honey and inspected the damage,

"Easy girl..." he said, calming her with soothin strokes down her side. She seemed to know he was trying to help her and let him peel away the blood stained bandages and inspect the wound.  
"Right, she is badly injured. I'm going to need t take her back to the surgery. The bullet is still inside her and lodged inside. I'm going to need to perform surgery to remove it properly. I'm going to sedate her here so I can easily get her back without causing her too much pain. Meanwhile, Jim, I think you should notify the police, I;ve got a feeling that man was here up to no good. Rose, was he the one who shot Honey?"

"Yes, he did" I said with no hesitation.

"Then he could be charged with animal cruelty if I can prove the bullet inside her matches his pistol. Rose, I think you should stay here and rest, that was quite an ordeal you went through"

As much as I aprreciated both Dr Hopkinson and Jim's concern for me, I was a little annoyed. I had lived through the sinking of the Titanic, I think could deal with this without being traumatized. Nonetheless, I kenw I needed to rest, all this stress couldn't be good for the baby.

Dr Hopkinson sedated Honey sucessfully and left with her in his arms. He rode back to the surgery with Honey secured to the horse in front of him. I remembered when she was a tiny puppy and how she had ridden with me and Jack on horseback, never did I imagine she would travel by horse like this.

Jim left to get the police, a little unwilling to leave me with Cal, but it didn;t look like he'd wake anytime soon, he must have hit his head on something when he fell because he was knocked out cold. After Jim left, I collapsed onto the sofa and finally had time to cope with the realisation of what had happened. Cal had found us, Honey's life was on the line, and if she died, I didn't know how I'd cope.

**So? What d'ya think? Please review!**


	27. Chapter 27

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Thank's for the reviews on the last chapter guys! I wasn't sure if you'd like me packing too much into one chapter and I personally thought it was a bit rushed, but nice to see you guys liked it anyways! And to answer your question as to where Jack was during this, he just buggered off somewhere random after the whole argument thing; nothing important. Anyway, read on my faithful readers, and don't forget to reveiw! I love you guys!**

Jack's POV

After a few hours, I finally decided to head back home, I hoped Rose would have calmed down my then. I wasn't mad at her, it was just the extra hormones from being pregnant. She'd thrown several hissy fits over the past few weeks, which were annoying, but I'd been patient with her. I'd never actually walked out on her before though. Hopefully she wouldn't hate me too much for it. The one I really felt sorry for was Honey. Rose had taken most of her anger out on the poor dog, which crushed Honey's feelings. She adored Rose like a mother and couldn;t bare to see her angry. Rose had never actually physicly hurt her, but had broken her heart more than once.

I was starting to head up the long path that lead up to the house when I saw a horse thundering towards me. I wondered why on earth anyone would be riding at this time of the night, especially that fast. It wasn;t easy to see in the dark and if I hadn't seen the horse and moved out of the way, it would have ran right over me. It wasn;t until the horse got closer that I saw a limp golden bundle tied to the front. I was horrified to see that it was a dog. A yellow labrador. Honey.

"Hey! Stop!" I shouted at the rider of the horse. He skidded to a halt next to me. "What are you doing with my dog?" I demmanded to know.

"Your dog?" he enquired. "Do you live in that farmhouse with the lady with the red curly hair?"

"Yes, I do. She's my wife"

The man looked uncomfortable.

"Well, this is hard to explain right now, I'm in a hurry here. But I'll tell you now that your dog has been seriously injured by a bullet and is in need of medical attention. I'm taking her back to my surgery in town now"

I was completely stunned. How serious was it? How had it happened? How could she have been shot with a gun? The only person I knew in town who owned a gun was Jim who had a rifle he kept for safety purposes. And the only other person was...

Cal.

Without another word, I charged up the path tothe house as fast as I could, leaving the man, a vet I guessed, confused as to why I;'d suddenly run off. I heard him galloping back down the path towards the town an knew Honey was in safe hands. All I was worried about at the moment was Rose.

I reached the farmhouse to see a police carridge parked outside the house and two men carrying a body into the back of it. For a moment I was terirfied it was Rose's body but was relieved tp see it was Cal. He wasn't dead, just ghostly pale, unconsious and with a wound in his leg oozing blood. I was amazed to see he was hurt, who had shot him? Would Rose have it in her to pull the trigger of a gun? Rose. I ran up to the house quick, suddenly remembering her.

The living room was like a crime scene. A police man was examining the small pool of blood on the floor and a simular blood stain over by the wall, another police officer was sitting on the sofa next to Rose, who looked in shock. The police officer was trying to get Rose to tell him what had happened, but she was too shook up to answer. She looked glad to see me, though. She ran over to me when she saw me and threw her arms around my neck.

"Rose, what happened?" I asked her. "I saw Cal, how did he get shot?"

Poor Rose was in tears, and I could see evidence of many more stained on her cheeks.

"H-he turned up and he h-had a gun... he tried to make me o back to Philadelhpia with him, and Honey, she..." Rose burst into tears all over again when mentioning Honey. All I could do was hold her and try and comfort her.

"Rose, I know about Honey, I saw her on the way here. Did Cal do it? Did he hurt her?"

Rose nodded sadly.

"Oh, she was so brave, Jack. She jumped on his back and attacked him! She really did!"

I was stunned. That cowardly dog who was too scared to put one paw in Lake Wissota had fought off Cal! It looked like that dog knew when something was wrong.

"And then he- he shot her!" Rose continued.

I felt anger boiling inside me. If Honey died and Cal lived... he'd better learn to sleep with one eye open.

She explained to me how Jim had turned up and shot Cal in the leg to stop him getting Rose. Jim had left once the police had arrived, but I wished he was there so I could thank him. I he hadn;t had heard the first gunshot, Honey would probrably be dead and Cal would have taken Rose.

I looked behind me and noticed that one of the police officers had been evesdropping and had written down everything Rose had told me. Part of me was irritated he had been listening but I knew they needed the information. Hopefully it would mean Cal would get what was coming to him.

The police finally left half an hour later, after they had everything they wanted. Rose had calmed down now and had fallen asleep on the sofa whilst I was making her some tea. I gently woke her and gave her the tea, which she drank quickly. She was too worried about Honey to care about what she was drinking. We didn't have any word of her yet, but we knew the wound was bad. All we could do was wait and hope she'd pull through.

***

I was woken the next morning by the doorbell. Wondering who it could be this early, I quickly dressed and ran downstairs to answer it. The man I'd seen with Honey on the horse last ngith stood there, a consious but shaky Honey in his arms.

"Morning!" he said cheerfully. "Honey's a bit better now, I;ve managed to remove the bullet and there doesn;t seem to be too much damage, she jsut needs to take it easy for a couple of weeks and she should be fine. Just let me know if anything goes wrong, but it shouldn't"

"Great!" I said gladly, taking Honey from him. "Thank you so much for saving her"

"No problem, just doing my job"

I carried Honey inside, who dispite being weak and shaky, was still trying to lick my face. I lay her down gently on the sofa and pulled dome cushions around her to make her comfortable. There was a long jagged line down her side where the vet had had to cut her open to retrieve the bullet and the cut was sewn tight with an ugly black thread that stood out horribly against her golden fur. I sat there stroking her for a moment, wondering how she;d found the courage to take Cal on. She was so wonderfully loyal that she'd risked her life when she thought Rose was in danger. Now that's why a dog is man's best friend.

I went into the kitchen to get her some breakfast, deciding to treat her to some rashers of bacon and gravy, which she usually wasn;t allowed to eat incase she thought she could steal it from our plates. But given what she'd done for us I thought she'd earnt it. She could only eat slowly, but gulped it as fast as she could, knowing it was a rare treat.

Rose came down about an hour later. She was overjoyed to see Honey was back and recovouring. She hardly left her side the whole day. I guess she wanted to make up for being so grouchy with her and to thank her for defending her like that. She was so glad she stayed in a good mood for the rest of the week, hardly moaning or complaining once. It seemed that Cal's attack had knocked all the bad hormones out of her. She was nothing but happy.

**Not very long, I know, but remember, quality, not quantity! Anyway, please reveiw! xx**


	28. Chapter 28

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Just a quick one today guys, nothing much to say. Thanks for the reviews, as always, it's nice to read what you think of my work. Also I apologies for the lack of update recently, but you know, hoemwork and revision and other useless crap like that. I'm sure you've al heard it all before so I won't bore you with my tryign to excuse my way out of keeping you in the dark update-wise. Anywho, here's the next chapter.**

July 21st 1912

Rose's POV

You'd never believe how fast news travels in a small town like Chippewa Falls. When I went into town the next day to buys some groceries, I was swamped with people I hardly knew who wanted to know exactly what had happened. Rumours had been flying around left right and centre. The story had almost no fact left in it. One version said that Honey had died (though thank God she didn't), another said that I was the one who'd been shot, I'd apparently fought Cal off with my bare hands, and one story went so far as to say that I'd killed Cal in self defense! I soon put them straight though. They seemed partially disapointed to hear that there hadn't been too much action, but mostly they looked releived that I was OK.

I finally managed to get away from the anxious crowd and into the store. I took my time selecting the items I wanted to buys, deliberately waiting for the people outside to move on. However, when I was waiting to buy the food, I got such a surprise that I dropped the bag on the floor. A woman was having a "polite disagreement" with the man behind the counter about the quaity of the canned food. And that woman was my mother.

I gasped in surprise. The clank of the cans landing on the floor made her look round and notice me, and she gasped too. She run over to me and threw her arms around my neck before I could duck down and pick up the mess on the floor.

"Oh Rose!" she said breathlessly. She seemed happy to see me, and I dared hope for a moment that she would accept what I wanted and we could be happy again...

"What on earth do you think you're playing at, you silly girl?!" she asked, looking at me up and down. "You look a fright!"

I didn't look too bad. I was wearing a light blue dress that ended just below my knees and my hair was pulled up in an loose knot, not exactly scruffy, but not first class.

"Why, you're not even wearing a corset, you stupid little-!" Mother sounded amazed that I could even dare to do such a thing.

"Nice to see you too, Mother" I said sarcasticly, sinking to the floor to retrieve my shopping so she wouldn't see the tears forming in my eyes. No, she was still the same snotty, narrow midned Ruth DeWitt Buckator. She obviously hadn't changed a bit. The first time she'd seen me in months and she still fussed about how I looked!

She herself looked completely out of place in her rich dress and fur coat and hat. And she must have been the only woman on that side of the town to be wearing a corset. A fair few of the women in Chippewa Falls, myself included, had switched to wearing a new undergarment called a brassiere. Though rare and slightly expensive, most of the women had invested in just one from a shop in a larger town nearby, as they were must more managable than corsets. And more comfortable!

I took my time gathering up my shopping, trying to block out Mother's lecturing on how I was making a complete fool of myself and how she was sick of this childish nonsense and I must come back to Philadelphia with her this instant and patch things up with Cal...

The last part made me spring to my feet in rage. I stared her right in her cold, heartless eyes and let rip. So much anger inside me, bursting to get out, and now I let it out.

"Get back togeather with Cal?! Mother, I honestly cannot believe how you can be so compeltely stupid sometimes!"

Mother looked like I'd slapped her. She opened her mouth to shout back, but I wasn't finished.

"Well, getting back togeather with Cal is impossible for a number of reasons. The frist being that me and Jack got married nearly 2 weeks ago. The second being that I have no feelings whatsoever for that bastard, and third, I can't think how you don't know yet, but Cal came up to the house last night, and tried to make me go back with him by force. Remember how you said what a gentleman me was? Would a gentleman try and kidnap me, point a gun in my face or try to shoot my dog dead?!"

Mother looked startled at my outburst. I could see her trying to take it all in, aswell as trying not to look at the people who had stopped to watch us. But I wasn't done with her yet.

"And you've been no saint to me either, Mother. You practicly sold me to Cal to protect your own place in society. What sort of a mother does that to her daughter?

"And incase you think I'm still being a selfish, overreactive child, I never did tell you how I met Jack, did I? Well I'll tell you now. Second day on the Titanic, when I excused myself from dinner claiming to have a bad headache, well minutes later, I was clinging to the back of the ship, ready to jump off the edge. That's what you did to me, Mother, you nearly drove me to suicide. It's a good thing Jack convinced me not to jump or I wouldn't even be here.

"Do you see what you've done to me, Mother? Claiming you had my best interests. Well your best interests nearly killed me. As far as I'm concerned, you can leave now and I won't care if I never lay eyes on you again. Good day, Mrs DeWitt Buckator"

And with that, I pranced over to the door, my head held high, my shopping lay abandonned on the floor. Before I left the shop, I turned once more to look at my mother. She looked competely shocked, extremely hurt. Tears were forming in her eyes and she looked like she;d just found my dead body laying in front of her. I wrapped one arm around my middle and spoke to her one last time, this time, calmer but no less angry.

"And by the way, I should let you know that I am 3 months pregnant with your grandchild. Goodbye Mother"

I turned around shaply and left the store calmly, not looking back. I waited until I was out of the main part of town, and then I let myself cry in dispair. She had never really been a good mother too me. I was brought up by nannies and maids. I can't think of one time that she ever tried to get close to me. She never did sit me in her lap and read me a bedtime story. Never once did she sing me back to sleep if I'd woken up after a nightmare. I couldn't remember a single time that we'd had any mother-daughter bonding time that a girl treasures for the rest of her life. Never. But inspite of everything, I'd only ever have one mother. No matter how little she loved me.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Woah, it's not every day that a chapter even get's it's author feeling pitiful! I msut admitt I really outidid myself with Rose's little speech there! Well, as usual, please review. At leas two more would be brill as I'd like to see this story hit the 40 reviews mark! :)**


	29. Chapter 29

July 25th 1912

Jack's POV

Rose was quiet during the days following her encounter with her mother. She threw herself into daily tasks, and quickly changed the subject whenever I tried to get her to talk about it. I guessed she was upset about it so I just dropped the subject eventually. I was surprised. I thought she would want to talk about it. I thought she would be upset. But there was no emotion in her at the moment. She was like an empty void of nothingness. She didn't seem to feel anything.

The day after Rose ran into Ruth, we finally heard news of Cal. He had survived the shooting with just a scar on his leg and mild concussion from the fall. The police held him in custody for a day, wanting to know exactly what had happened that night. But he was soon released. The police babbled some excuse about there not being enough evidence against him and that they had no choice, but I didn't believe a word of it. My guess was that Cal had bribed the police into letting him go. That or his dad had paid for some bigshot lawyer to get him out. That man had no backbone. He constantly used his checkbook as a sheild for everything. And when the money ran out, he just went running back to Nathan for more. That's what he did this time. The water got too hot and he went running back to Daddy. The coward.

Ruth mysteriously disapeared from town at the same time as Cal. Rose and I guessed she had gone back to Philadelphia with Cal. Maybe she couldn't stand the shame of the accusations thrown at her (in a small town like Chippewa Falls, nothing stays secret for long. The people soon put two and two togeather and treated her like a criminal), maybe she finally accepted that Rose didn't want her in her life, or maybe she was just as big a coward as Cal and hid behind the security of his money. What ever her reason, she was gone.

After releasing Cal, the police dropped the whole case, much to our annoyance. It was frustrating to know that Cal's crime would go unpunished, but we were glad that Jim wasn't charged with attemptive murder. He was taken in by the police for a while on suspicion of trying to kill Cal (well, he did fire the rifle a him) but with the evidence in Rose's eyewitness statement and the evidence of where he had shot Cal, they had to released Jim, cleared of all charges. He had shot Cal, but only in the defence of Rose and Honey.

Honey herself was recovering well, and after a few days was aching with boredom. A Labrador is born to run and play, it was killing the poor dog to be stuck inside all day on the sofa. She was still a bit too fragile for a good run around in the fields, though she could manage a few minutes walk around the living room.

After a few days or her constant whining and barking out of sheer boredom, I came up with a brilliant idea of keeping her occupied. I'd found an abandonned rubber ball in one of fields and had an idea. I took the ball home and punctured several large holes into the material. I then filled the ball with food; leftovers from Honey's meals, a few biscuits, and several spoonfuls of honey. The ball provided Honey with hours of fun, trying to get the food out of the ball. It was a good brain-teaser for her. It was perfect.

Rose didn't think so. She didn't approve of Honey's new toy one bit. Mainly because of the torn bits of rubber and left over chunks of food scattered around. She especially didn't approve of the congealed drops of Honey left on the sofa. Once Honey had torn apart the first ball, Rose forbade me from making her another one. So much for my ingenius plan.

***

The rest of the summer passed by peacefully. The hot weather slowly subsided, and the shimmering green leaves faded to golden oranges, yellows and red. The weather began to grow colder, and rain began to pour on a daily basis, a much needed refreshment after the hot summer.

When autumn was in full swing, we began to feed the horses less food than usual. This was because the big apple tree in their field was dripping with huge, crisp, green apples. Thunder and Kara's favourite treat was a good crunchy apple or two. It was peaceful just to lean against the fence of the field and watch them rear up onto their hind legs, grap and apple from a branch and yank it down. Soon the ground below the field was littered with crunched apple cores (they'd spit them out once they were finished, they didn't like the taste of the cores).

The autumn atmosphere was beautiful, a great picture. I drew several sketches of the autumn environment. Just simple stuff, like the leaves falling from the trees, the rain pouring against the window, stuff like that. I'd tried to sell some drawings, but they didn't make much money. I wasn't bothered about the money, it just would have been nice to sell them because it would prove that people liked my work. Well, I knew Rose did. She'd hung several of them around the house, saying they added decoation.

Possibly the best thing about the autumn was the harvest. This was a time when food was pleantiful and the market was overflowing with freshly grown foods. Berries, fruit, vegetables, and other foods cooked from thse things. One stall sold very good homemade apple cider this time of year. Good value, and very tasty. Rose didn't like it though, said it had a weird taste. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. She'd never tasted apple cider before, so maybe it was the shock of the taste.

By September, Honey was fully recovoured from her ordeal with Cal, and the only sign of her injury was a faint scar along her side. She was up and galloping around alongside the horses. She scared Rose many times by running right up close to the horses' hooves thundering along the ground. She didn't care, she was fearless now. Her close call with death seemed to have knoced any of her fears right away. She was bold, adventurous, and afraid of nothing. When I took her for a walk in the forest in August, she ran right into Lake Wissota after the swans! She was swimming like a fish! Our cowardly dog who quivered at the sight of water, was now as fearless as a lion. Rose and I were like proud parents.

By the time autumn was in full swing, Rose's stomach was swelling prominantly. Her hormones were in full swing, and disagreeing with her could be lethal. To keep her happy, I just agreed with her. I comforted her as she threw up repeatedly, tried to to sigh when she insisted on suggesting dozens of new names, complimented her on her weight, all the things a pregnant woman wants to hear. Now that her pregnancy was obvious, it had sunk in for both of us what was happening. We were going to be parents! We were so excited about it. When we felt the baby's first kick, it was like we'd struck oil. We were over the moon. Now the reality of the tiny life inside Rose had sunk it, we couldn;t wait for our baby to finally arrive.

**So, what do ya think? I know you probrably hate me for keeping Cal alive, but I need him alive to introduce later characters to the story. All in good time, my readers, patience is a virtue. Review please! :)**


	30. Chapter 30

January 2nd 1913

Rose's POV

The remained for 1912 passed uneventfully for us. The winter of December was cold and bitter, with snow reaching almost up to my knees in the woodlands. The countryside really was beautiful when it was dusted in a covour of snow. The lake was beautiful when it was completely frozen over. The ice seemed thick enough to walk on, as I had done several times. I had to take extra care not to slip and fall, given I was now heavily pregnant. Honey loved the ice too. She was a growing dog in size and weight but she could scamper along the ice in a slippery fashion, though she nearly scared me to death when the ice suddenly cracked under her and she had to make a mad dash back to land.

The harsh winter took it's tole on our farm animals that winter. We lost two sheep to the cold, and only managed to save a third by taking him into the house and practicly roasting him under the fire. It was hard to keep them warm. Though their thick fleeces served them well, the temperature dipped to minus 10, far too cold even for them. We didn't dare risk setting up a fire in the barn, we knew how dangerous that would be. So all we could do was warm them as best we could with pleanty of warm straw, blankets, and even hot water bottles at one point! The horses suffered as much, but we could covour them with thick blankets and give them warm water to drink, whereas we couldn't for the sheep.

Christmas was a quiet one for us. Well, except for Honey's excessive barking! She seemed to sense that it was a special day and was hyper with excitement, especially when we gave her her present; a bright yellow football for her to play with and chew on as much as she liked (mercifully, this one _wasn't_ filled with food!). She thoroughly enjoyed her tukey scraps with a small peice of leftover christmas cake, perhaps too much, as she was begging us for more all through the night.

Since money was tight at the time, we didn't excel with Christmas, as we wanted to save our money for when the baby finally arrived. We just got eachother one present each, and one for Honey. I got Jack some new drawing materials and folder, as all his old stuff had gone down with the Titanic. And in return, Jack got me a guitar.

I loved that guitar from the moment I held it in my arms. I'd loved strumming my fathers old guitar when he was alive, and he'd sometimes sit me on his lap and guide my hands with his along the guitar. I'd felt so proud of myself when I could tell him what the strings were called. I'd always loved music, though Mother said it was a waste of money when I expressed an intrest in learning an instrument.

I spent all my spare time on mastering it. I practiced until my fingers ached with numbness. It was hard at first but I loved the sound of it being played properly so much that it drove me to being obsessed with learning to play my instrument. I played all day and half the night. It sounded terrible at first but as I gradually improved, it was a good noise to fill the house with.

***

January 13th 1913

Rose's POV

I was worried. I didn't know if it was natural for a baby to be over a week late, but my maternal instincts were telling me that it wasn't right. My stomach had swelled to the size of a beach ball and I was suffering for it. I was tired of being pregnant. I was fed up of the backaches, painful kicks and sleepless nights. I just wanted it to be over.

Well they say you should be careful what you wish for!

The night of January 13th 1913, I was curled up on the sofa (well, about as curled up as I could get with a swollen middle!) reading a book and generally not thinking about anything. Jack was in the kitchen drawing some sketches for the newspaper and Honey was sprawled out in front of the fire, sighing contently every so often in her sleep.

I was absorbed in my own little world, when suddenly, I felt a harsh kick in my stomach. I clasped my middle, moaning in pain.

"Ah! Hey, I'm the one that's gotta bring you into the world and this is the thanks I get?" I snapped at my stomach. Feeling fed up and tired, I closed my book shut and decided to have an early night.

"I'm going to bed" I called to Jack on my way up.

"OK..." he called back vaguelly, not really interested.

I undressed slowly, trying to avoid the pain of bending right over. I always hated undressing nowadays, as it was impossible to avoid looking at my huge body. I sighed at the stretch marks and my large breasts. I hoped I would get my figure back eventually. I'd hated the thought of being saggy and stretched like a sweater all my life.

Honey had followed me up and was making herself comforable on the bed. Normally I'd have shooed her down with a light scolding, but I didn't care tonight. I felt achy and sore and was glad of the company. I drifted off to sleep, clasing Honey round her middle, her head resting over my chest protectively.

I suddenly woke with a start. Something was definately not right. I suddenly let out a loud moan in pain as I felt a trickle of wet splash over my legs. My waters had broken. I knew I was in labour. I thought I would be happy when it finally happened, that I would feel releived, but now it was really happening, I went into a confused panic.

I didn't know what to do. Should I get up? Should I stay still? I was so confused. I just lay there groaning in pain and crying at the same time. Honey had woken now and was looking at me worriedly. I turned over to my other side, clasping my stomach in pain. She sensed something was wrong and lept from the bed, as if worried she would hurt me. She suddenly let out several loud warning barks which rang through the house, drowning out my moans and painful sobs.

Honey continued to bark, also letting out the odd howl, as if sounding an alarm. I knew she was trying to call Jack, to tell him something was wrong. I said a silent prayer in my head, thanking God for giving me such a protective dog. Sure enough, her barking had paid off and I heard Jack coming up the stairs to see what was wrong with her.

"Honey, what's up with- Rose!" he rushed over to me and knelt my me. "Rose, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly, brushing my sweat-soaked hair out of my tear filled eyes.

"The- the baby. Its... coming" I gasped between sobs and moans.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Oh finally! You don't know how long I've been waiting to get this baby on the way! I've had to force myself to be patient and write the other chapters before finally bringing another character in! Hope you enjoyed it and.... well, I'll just say that there's a little surprise on the way for you. I am saying no more! *zips mouth shut, padlocks and throws key down bottomless pit***

**Oh, and by the way, Rose's experiences with the guitar are based on my own. I took up the guitar a couple of weeks ago and I can't put it down! :)**


	31. Chapter 31

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Hi guys! I know, you probrably hate me for making you wait, but I'm restricting my updates, as it's getting addictive and is slwly taking over my life :D Don't wrry, I will NOT give up on this story, I'm just a bit slow. Enjoy!**

January 13th 1913

Rose's POV

The pain sweeping through me was becoming worse as time went by. I was so scared. I didn't know if it was right to be in this much pain. Did it mean something was wrong? The baby was two weeks late as it was, I was terrfied something was wrong with my child. I buried my head in my tear soaked pillow and prayed everything would be OK.

Jack had to leave me so he could go and get the doctor in the village. I knew there was no other option, but I still didn't want to be on my own when I felt this bad. Honey stayed by my side the whole time, concern in her shining chestnut eyes. She let out a low whine every so often, as if expressing concern. She didn't understand what was wrong. She kept jerking her head round now and again, as if keeping gaurd. I guessed she was remembering what had happened to us with Cal, and she thought he had come back. I reached out and stroked her back.

"It's OK, I'm just having a baby" I joked weakly with her. I suddenly grapsed the fur on her back harshly as another wave of pain hit me. Poor Honey jerked violently in shock at the sudden pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" I gasped between breaths. She didn't seem hurt, and licked my face once to show there were no hard feelings.

I suddenly heard the front door opening, and Honey swiftly glided from the room to investigate. She came back wagging her tail happily, weaving in and out of Jack and the village doctor. Jack held her back by her collar so the doctor could come forward.

"Hello again, Rose" he said cheerfully, setting down his case. I'd seen him several times before for checkups on the baby. "Your baby finally on it's way then?"

"Oh, it hurts!" I moaned in reply, gripping the sheets with my hands.

"I know. It will hurt, but just remember what it's all for" the doctor said comfortingly. "Now I'm going to have a look at you and see how far along you are"

I nodded and let him check me over and feel my abdomen.

Honey barked harshly at him, not liking the activity before her. Jack held her back by the collar, but she was straining with all her might to get at this would-be attacker, rearing up on her hind legs and letting out low growls. Since her encounter with Cal, she had become feircely protective around new people.

"Could you please remove the dog?" the doctor asked Jack. "It really shouldn't be here, it's a danger to both mother and baby"

Jack willingly dragged Honey downstairs, but we both didn't like the doctor talking about Honey like a wild wolf. She was our dog. We kept her clean, flea-free, we trained her well, what sort of a threat was she?

Once Honey was safely out of the way, the doctor continued the examination and said I was in full labor. He said there wasn't much he could do now, just to let nature take it's course. Easy for him to say, he wasn't the one giving birth! I screamed in pain so many times I lost count. Pain tore through my body, I felt I was on fire. And for one crazy moment I thought, nothing is worth this. But I pushed that thought out of my mind. I was strong, I could do this.

I knew a bit about labor, but I never expected it to be so long! I thought it would be an hour, tops. But no, it dragged on all through the night. Jack and the doctor stayed with me through it all, encouraging me, comforting me, telling me to keep going, but by morning I was so exausted I didn't know if I could do it anymore. I just wanted to give up...

***

Janurary 14th 1913

Thank goodness I didn't give up. They say nothing good ever comes easy, but to acheive something absolutely wonderful, you have to push yourself to the very limit. And nothing in the world is more wonderful than holding your baby daughter in your arms for the first time.

She was beautiful, with bright blue eyes and wisps of light blonde hair on her warm, soft head. She was like a beautiful angel. I was so tired, but holding her in my arms made me feel more awake than I'd ever been in my life. She had a good set of lungs, wailing loudly when she was born. She was still sceaming when the doctor placed her in my arms. I held her close to me, letting her nestle into my chest. She calmed when I held her, her eyes wide and alert, examining everything around her. I felt tears in my own eyes as I gazed at my beautiful little girl.

"She's so lovely" I whispered, choking on sobs.

"Yes, she is" Jack replied, smiling at her, "Just like her mother"

I leaned against him sleepily and he put his arm around me, stroking our daughter's wisps of hair fondly.

The doctor silently began to pack up his things, unwilling to break up the scene before him.

We enjoyed another few minutes of tranquility, until I suddenly felt waves of pain overcome me again. I screamed loudly, scaring the baby. She began wailing again, frightened by the sudden noise.

"Rose, what's wrong?" Jack asked urgently.

"I- I don't know" I gasped in pain. It felt exactly like... but no, it couldn't be!

The doctor hurried over to me and checked me over again.

"Oh no" he muttered. "Another... there's another" he announced after examining me.

Jack and I were both shocked.

"Another? There's another baby?" Jack asked him.

"Yes. It's twins" the doctor continued, hurridly unpacking his case again. "Please take the baby out of here, it will only upset her. I assume you have a room ready for her?"

Jack nodded and gently eased our daughter out of my arms. I was sad to see my precious baby go, but I had another baby to concentrate on for now.

Yet again, I endured unforgivable pain and tired myself horribly. This was shorter though. In another 4 hours, I held another baby in my arms. A little boy. He was born peacefully, only crying a little, and settling quickly into my arms as his sister had. Instead of being alert, he quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.

"Amazing, you can't let they're siblings, let alone twins!" Jack said jokingly. It was true, they were so differant in temprement, but I loved both my babies dearly. This little boy was as beautiful and wonderful as the little girl born before him. He also shared his sister's blonde hair, but he had inherited my sea green eyes, almond shaped and shining. From the day they were born, I was always especially fond of their eyes. They represented how differant they were, and it was also a blessing, as it helped me tell them apart during the first few months!

Jack brought our daughter back to me, and I transfered our son to Jack so I could have a few more moments with my daughter. The doctor began to pack up his things again, looking tired and strained, having been up all day and night with us. After seeing that everything was well, he wished us well, and saw himself out, recieving a few more sharp barks from Honey. And then it hit me: _Honey_.

Poor dog. She had been rudely dragged through the house and shut up downstairs alone, something we;d never done to her before. She dodn;t know what had happened, I could only imagined what was going through her mind. But I didn;t want to risk her up here just yet. I knew she would never dream of purpously hurting either baby, but she had a tendancy to get over-excited over new people, or things, she might see them as. Jack and I aggreed to introduce Honey to the new arrivals later on, but for now, all I wanted to do was sleep.

I slept fitfully for the rest of the day, witht he happiest of thoughts - that I had brought my first two children safely into the world, on January 14th 1913, exactly 9 months after they were conceived that night on the Titanic.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Sooooo, what do you think? I tried really hard with this, but it's not easy to write. I'm sorry for any medical mistakes I might have made, but I know next to nothing about birth, except where the baby comes out! **

**Please review!**


	32. Chapter 32

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Ah, you lucky lucky poeple! Fortunately for you, I broke my foot the other day and had to stay off school, leaving me pleanty of time to write. Hoewever, this isn;t easy with a plastered aching foot :(**

January 14th 1913

Jack's POV

Rose was exausted, which was understandable, giving that she had given birth yesterday. The twins had slept most of the day yesterday, the boy only waking every so often for a feed. The girl, however, was a little drama queen and woke almost every two hours. Sometimes for a reason, sometimes for nothing. We found it acceptable now, but I didn't think we'd like it as the weeks went by.

"We still need to name them" I pointed out to Rose that morning. She was lying in bed nursing the baby girl sleepily.

"Yes, we do" she agreed. She examined the baby in her arms for a moment. "How about... Rebecca?"

I looked at our baby for a moment and shook my head.

"No, she doesn't really look like a Rebecca. How about... Anna?"

We continued suggesting names to eachother for the next 15 minutes. Each one was rejected. The finally, we found the perfect name for our daughter.

Danielle Sapphire Dawson.

Danielle was a name we both thought suited her well, and we picked Sapphire for her middle name because of her bright sapphire blue coloured eyes. Danielle seemed to like her new name too. She'd finally settled down peacefully in Rose's arms for a sleep... Or not. She suddenly began whimpering again, simply craving attention more than anything. She was quite a little actress right from the start.

Now we had to think of a name for our son. It took longer for us to name him, going though God knows how many names until we finally chose the perfect one for him.

James Daniel Dawson.

James was a name we decided on at random, and we thought the name Daniel would be a nice link to his sister. They were twins, after all ,and some people beleive that twins are apart of eachother. But ours were so differant. They may look simular, but their personalities were so differant. James was good and quiet, Danielle was noisy and spirited. But we loved them both the same.

***

It was later that day that we decided it was time to introduce the babies to Honey. We'd neglected her since they were born, keeping her shut downstairs in the living room most of the time. She wasn't used to this and had begun to chew on the corner of the sofa out of worry. We knew we had to introduce them carefully, as Honey might get too excited and accidently hurt them. But we had to do it soon. The longer we left them apart, the greater the tension. We'd given Honey some of their things to sniff on to become used to the smell; a couple of blankets, letting her smell us after we'd been holding them, small steps that would help her get used to them.

When the big moment finally came, I went into the living room first to calm Honey down and hold her back so she didn't jump on Rose the way she normally did. It would be a good sign that she was still happy, but we didn't want the baby to go flying less than a day after it was born. I calmed Honey down and held her by her collar an called for Rose to come in. She walked in slowly, cradling a wrapped up Danielle to her chest. As expected, Honey made a lunge at her, tail lashing furiously. I held her back firmly so Rose could slowly come forward with Danielle.

Honey sensed that something was differant, and strained at her collar to see what she was holding. Rose knelt down in front of her and slowly lowered her arms to expose Danielle to her. Honey craned her neck eagerly, sniffing vigerously at Danielle's blanket, head and body. Danielle didn't seem bothered. She slept peacefully for once, and when Honey's nose evntually woke her up, she stared up at this huge creature with awe, completely unafraid.

They seemed at peace with eachother, a good start. Next we needed to bring down James. Honey look to him just as well, but James didn't like this huge yellow dog one bit. He wailed loudly at the sight of her, terrifed of her sniffing nose. Honey looked downright hurt, oblivious to what she'd done wrong. Rose took James away to try and calm him down, and I gave Honey a stroke.

"Good girl" I praised her. "Don't worry, he'll come around eventually"

She looked up at me, obviously pleased with herself.

Since Honey was at comfortable with the two babies, we now gave her full run of their room. Since we were only prepared for one baby, the twins had to share the one cot for now, until we could buy another. They seemed comfortable enough for now. Honey had settled herself on the floor in front of the cot, as though gaurding them. She couldn't be happier with them.

Later that night, just as we were falling asleep, we heard one of the babies start to cry. The first of many to come that night alone. Ah, the joys of parenthood.


	33. Goodbye Message

**AUTHOR'S FAREWELL NOTE - Hi, me again. Now is the time when I'd usually write something about the chapter below, or make some smart ass remark (I'm known for it!), but I'm afraid I'm using this note to say goodbye.**

**The reasons are hard to explain but it's mainly just the overwhelming pressures of everyday life I guess. I have big exams coming up, I'm worrying non-stop about my poor dog, Sammy, who has just been diagnosed with cancer, and I just generally haven't got the time or the heart to continue with this story. I know that might not seem like a good enough excuse, but like I said, it's complicated. I just can't carry on writing a happy story when I feel so depressed and sad. **

**But I've promised you several times throughout the story that I will not just leave this story to gather dust, and I try to keep my promises. So I'm giving this story to my cousin, Jac, to finish. So please be nice to her, and she'll give it her best. By the way, Jac is unexperienced with fan fiction, but she's a great writer, so please be patient, it may take her a bit of time to get into the story. **

**Before I go, I'd like to say thanks to all of you who've reviewed and supported me with this story, it really has been great knowing you. I might be back one day, who knows. But the fire inside me that kept me going has been well and truly burnt out by recent events, so I can't carry on.**

**Once again, goodbye, thank you, and good luck to this story's next writer Jac DiCalari. **

**Lydia DiCalari xx**


	34. Chapter 34

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Hey dudes! Jac DiCalari here, taking over the story from my cousin, Lydia DiCalari.**

**Just a quick note to say hi, and I hope I can do as well as she's done with this story. I've spent the last few days reading the story over and getting to know the characters so I know how to write the rest of it. Hopefully I can do it justice. Though, I'll admit it will be a bit weird writing this story, considering my name is Jac (short for Jacqui). But I'll do my best and I hope you all like my writing!**

**Jac xx**

January 31st 1913

Rose's POV

There are some things in life you can prepare for, and some you just can't. Parenthood is one of those things you can't prepare for. You can read as many books or talk to as many people as you like, but there is no way you can be ready for what it demands. You are well and truly thrown in the deep end. Though Jack and I both loved our babies dearly, they were really testing out patience. We knew what to expect; sleepless nights, tiredness, obsessive crying, but now we were actually parents, it was harder than we thought.

Danielle was especially demanding. She was little drama queen as we'd predicted the day she was born, crying endlessly for attention more than anything. Yes, the occasional feed and nappy change, but more often than not, she would wake us up simply to make herself heard. And of course, when she woke up, she woke James in the process. He was less tiresome than his twin sister, making a lot less fuss and sleeping peacefully a lot of the time. He was as good as gold, and his sister a firey little imp. Nevertheless, we loved them both exactly the same.

One other thing they don't tell you about parentage, the attention it brings you. When the twins were two weeks old, I took them into the village for the first time to do some grocery shopping. Thank goodness some of the snow along the path had been gradually swept away by horses, people and the occasional carriage, or I'd never have been able to push the pram through! As much as I loved the countryside, it wasn't exacly baby-friendly.

Anyway, less than ten minutes after arriving in the village, I was surrounded by people I only vaguelly knew, all of them wanting to admire and coo over my children. At first I was delighted at the attention, even feeling a little proud that these admired babies were mine, butafter a while it started to get a little annoying, especially since I was trying to do some shopping. I began to get fed up with constand questions and comments like "What are their names?", "Don't the look so sweet!", "Are you sure you're coping?"

That last one I wasn't completely truthful about. Though I wasn't exactly falling apart, I was finding the it stressful being a mother of twins. They slept a lot during the day now (well, James more than Dani), but I knew it would get worse when they were toddlers. I was especially worried about my daughter, I knew it would be no easy ride raising her. I tried my best, taking each day as it came, and reminding myself that it would all be worth it in the long run. Plus the fact that despite all the difficulties, I loved being a mother. There was nothing more I loved than to feel their warm bodies pressed against mine. I loved singing them to sleep every night, listening to their soft breathing. Everything about them was angelic to me.

Honey, however, didn't think them so interesting these days. She spent most nights in their room, sleeping in between their cots, but I began to detect a hint of jelously. Before the twins were born, she was our number one priority. Now we had to devote ourselves to taking care of our children, Honey was sort of shunned to the side a bit. We didn't mean to, but it was unavoidable. She would often paw my leg, whining whist I rocked one of the twins to sleep, a longing look in her eyes. I would then give her a pat on the head or fondle her ears fr a minute, and then go back to the baby. Poor girl.

To try and make it up to her, Jack used one of his days off work to take her for a day out in the countryside, further than I'd ever been before. They were gone all day, and when they finally returned, they both looked tired but Honey was definately pleased. Jack later told me that she'd slipped her lead in the excitement of new land to explore and that he'd spend nearly half an hour trying to recapture her whilst she ran amok in a feild of sheep. The farmer who owned them was not impressed. From that day on, we used a chain lead instead of a leather one.

Dispite her obvious jelousy of the infants, Honey never once took out her feeling on either baby. Instead, she took it out of our house. All the training we'd so painstakingly taught her, she forgot instantly. She consistantly jumped up on the sofa, she chewed on the cushions, begged at the table, stole food from cupboards, and worst of all, left us the occasional puddle. Not acceptable, and we made sure she knew it. However, this just made her hate us even more. She was like a stroppy teenager, convinced that no one loved her and spending the day sulking in her room (or in Honey's case, the linen cupboard).

***

"Jack, we've got to do something about Honey" I finally stated one evening. I'd just finished scolding her for yet another attempt to ruin a pillow, and I'd had enough of her behaviour. Jack looked up from the sketch he was working on and sighed.

"Rose, we've tried everything, she just won't stop" Jack replied.

"Well we've got to do something" I insisted. "She can't carry on this way, she'll have detroyed the house in less than a year!"

"What do you suggest we do then?"

Ah. Now I was stuck.

"Well, we could try..." I thought hard. "OK, you win, there's nothing else we can try"

Ah, how wrong we were!

Our saviour finally came in the form of a nearby farmer, Mr Clarkson, a newcomer to the town who'd moed in to take over Mr Thompson's buisnesses after he'd scarpered. Unlike the ruthless, narrow-minded buisnessman before him, Mr Clarkson was a friendly man who'd moved to Wisconsin from Pheonix and got on well with all who knew him. In fact, in hist first week in town, he'd met pretty much everyone, greeting them in a freindly manner and a witty sense of humour.

He also ran his buisness a lot differantly from Mr Thompson, actually caring about the conditions of his land and buildings and not so much about profit. The differance was obvious in the quality of his food, and soon we were all buying it, knowing that our money was going to a good man with a good buisness. But unlike Mr Thompson, Mr Clarkson was also an avid dog lover.

He owned several of his own, which he loved taking for walks in the feilds. That was actually how we'd met him. Honey had smelt the other dogs and had gone dashing after them. When we'd finally caught up with her, we'd ended up chatting with him whilst Honey bonded with his Border Collies. That day he demonstrated how well trained his dogs were, leaving us stunned at how quickly they responded to him. Honey was reasonably well trained, but she sometimes decided she didn't want to carry out commands, escpecially when it meant going home.

Now we were desperate. Honey's behaviour had spiraled downward since the twins' birth, and now we decided to turn to Mr Clarkson for help. He was such a nice man, he wouldn't accuse us of not treated her right or wrong, he would just be happy to help. And giving he was such a good dog trainer, I was sure he would be willing to help.

So the next time my path crossed with his, I explained our problem, and asked him to help. As expected, he was more than willing.

"Well, it sounds like a simple case of jelously to me. She's simply trying to get your attention by any way possible" he explained. I was dully reminded of Danielle, and how she would do anything for attention.

"So, what to you suggest we do?" I asked, pulling Honey firmly back to her lead when she tried to make a lunge at a poor robin.

"I suggest you try to make her feel included with your children. By giving them both attention at the same time so she feels she's not being shut out. And about her behaviour, you mustn't let her get away with such things, you must make sure you scold her for it. Just like you did whe she was a puppy. Hopefully, she should stop soon, once she realises that she's not being pushed out"

I could almost have hugged him for the help he gave us. I followed his advice religiously, letting Honey have full access to the babies when I was holding them, and learning to cradle a baby in one arm and give Honey a head scratch with the other. We continued to scold her for bad behaviour, which she resented, but accepted. It did take a while, but she was soon back to normal. She'd put her ways behind her, and was now the well behaved dog we'd origionally had. She acdepted that the twins were here to stay, and in time actually began to like them. All was well once more.

**Soooooooo???? What do you guys think of my first chapter as author of this story?? Pleeeeaaase review and tell me if I'm crap or not. Thanks for reading and peace out!**


	35. Chapter 35

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Thanks, guys, for the gret reviews on my first fan fiction chapter! I love you all! :)**

**Believe me, I was as annoyed as I'm sure you all were when I found out that Lyd hadn't killed of that evil son of a bitch, Cal, but I'll just have to make do. She's told me exactly what she wants done with him (my cousin is so bossy at times!), so I'll do my best. Here goes....**

July 21st 1913

Cal's POV

For a year after my little trip to Chippewa Falls, I was like a lion in a cage. I was unpredicatbly aggressive and would snap at anyone at anytime. I truly felt no happiness or compassion in me at all. And the little that may have been hidden inside me somewhere was washed away by the large amounts of brandy and whisky I began consuming on a daily basis. For 12 months I was rarely sober enough to give a damn about anyone but myself. That was the wonderous thing about alcahol, if you down enough of the stuff, you're too drunk to feel anything. And I didn't dare feel anything. I knew that if I allowed myself to have feelings, I'd feel for Rose. My lost love.

I did love her, in my own way. I may not have shown it very well, but I wasn't brought up to think that showing love was important to women. My own parents were the example I lived by. My mother was married off to the best (and richest) suitor. Just like Rose would have, had it not been for that wretched Jack Dawson. Everything was so perfect, and then he had to go and ruin it. I never had a chance to prove to Rose how much I really did love her before he stole her from me. In a way, it hurt to think that she wanted him more than me. But why? What could a penniless gutter rat have that I didn't? Love. That's what. It's just my wretched luck that I didn't work that out until it was too late.

Now when you only see a year from the bottom of a whiskly bottle, it starts to affect you. Mentally and physicly. I was told by my doctor that unless I stopped soon, I was liable to do some proper damage to my body. Something inside me wanted to carry on, to drink myself to death, but I knew I had to stop. _Get a grip of yourself_, Cal, I told myself. _What sort of a man gives up like that? _ And I honestly can't imagine how I did it, but I was sober eventually. I kept my proud head high and carried on with my life.

I wasn't looked upon with the same respect from the other members of society. Word had spread about my downfall on the Titanic, how I'd lost my fiancé to a gutter rat, how I'd nearly drunk myself into oblivion. They all knew about the Heart of the Ocean, the lost diamond and how Caledon Hockley had carelessly lost it. But I, being the proud man I am, ignored them all. I devoted myself to my profits and buisness and shut them all out. That is, until I met her.

Rebecca Annelise Davies. A beautiful name for an even more beautiful woman. She was blessed with thick, glossy chestnut hair down to her waist, which she embroided with ribbons. Smooth, sun-kissed skin, and the most intense eyes I'd ever laid eyes on in my life. It was as though she was surrounded by a heavanly glow. Right from the moment I laid eyes on her, I wanted her. I needed her. But I couldn't have her.

She was the daughter of a rich buisnessman, Samuel Davies, who had made his fortune from the wood industry. He sold his wood to furniture companies for good money, and I knew he'd only want the very best for his daughter after she'd grown up in such splendour. He certainly wouldn't approve of a bad-named ex-drunk with a runaway fiancé.

Rebecca and I met on the night of July 21st 1913, at a birthday gala held for her mother. Everyone who was anyone was there, and of course, so was I. Though I was not looked upon with the same respect as I once was, I was still a good person to be on good terms with. The gala was held at her family's home in New York, and it seemed her parents were determined it would be made a night to remember. Which it was, for me.

When I met Rebecca, I was having a discussion with her father about our buisnesses. We talked about various things, profit, sales, etc, when the beautiful woman approached us. Rebecca was wearing a floor legnth purple velvet evening gown and her hair was hanging loose around her shoulders with just a few strands plaited with pruple ribbon. She tapped her father on the shoulder.

"Father, Mother wants to know if the caterers remembered to bring the caviar", she explained to him in her well-educated voice.

"Yes, my dear, I'm sure they did" Samuel assured his daughter. Then he noticed me staring at the vision of beauty hanging onto his arm.

"Ah, Cal, I don't beleive you've met my daughter Rebecca?" he said, gesturing his daughter forward.

"Pleasure to meet you" she said with a polite smile, holding out her hand. I finally snapped out of my trance.

"Ah, yes, pleasure to meet you too" I said, trying not to sound nervous. I took her hand and shook it lightly. Then I lifted it to my lips and kissed it. Her skin was so soft... so perfect... And then she was gone. She'd glided off to talk to her mother again, across the room. As I watched her walk away, I didn't here Samuel carry on with our conversation. I didn't here anything or see anything except her. I had to speak with her again. I had to.

When the band started up for a dance, I quickly checked my reflection in a mirror, breathed a sigh and walked over to her. I tapped her shoulder for her attention and asked her to dance. She accepted politely, but I could tell she thought it nothing more than a polite dance. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every second I spend gliding around the floor with her. I gave her my most charming smile, trying to seem as perfect as possible. I'd done the exact same thing with Rose and it had worked at first, and I hoped it would work with Rebecca. It seemed to, she smiled back at me, and let out a small giggle when I kissed her hand again at the end of the dance.

I stalked her for the rest of the evening, staying a fair distance back, but never once taking my eyes away from her gorgeous body. And when she stepped outside into the courtyard, I seized the chance. I grabbed two glasses of champagne from a nearby waiter and followed her. I found her outside, leaning against the wall, gazing up at the sky. She breathed in the cool night air and dabbed at her forehead with a gloved hand. I walked up beside her and cleared my throat. She jumped, startled to see me.

"Oh, hello again" she said with a slight smile.

"Hello" I greeted back. I held out a glass of champagne. "Here, I thought you might be thirsty"

She took the glass and sipped it gratefully.

"Thank you, I needed that" She did look hot and tired. "So, are you enjoying the party?"

I nodded. "Yes, it's very enjoyable. I can't say your mother seems very happy about being another year older though"

Rebecca chuckled.

"No, Mother never did like birthdays. Father has to buy her more impressive gifts every year just to keep her in a good mood"

"What was this year's gift?"

"A Shi Tzu puppy. She named him Max. He is the sweetest little thing"

"Mmm"

An awkward silence followed, neither one of us sure what to say. I resisted the urge to take her in my arms there and then, knowing if would definately not go down well with her parents. I wondered if she felt the same way as I did. In my head I tried to think of ways I could ask her without seeming rude or forward. I was just about to ask her when she suddenly broke the scilence.

"I'm sorry about your fiancé. Rose, wasn't it?"

My heart skipped a beat. Here I was, worried about being too forward, and she was trying to get me to talk to her about Rose like it was the most acceptable of conversations.

"Yes, Rose" I replied stiffly.

"You must be terribly upset, what with her leaving you"

"Ah, yes, I was"

"Have you found anyone else?"

I looked at her, gazing into her gorgeous eyes. I longed to announce my instant love for her there and then, but manners and the thought of the consiquences held me back.

"No, not yet"

She smiled. Almost as thought she was pleased to hear this, not that she said.

"And how about you? Have you had any... suitors?"

She sighed.

"Daddy keeps introducing me to countless buisnessman friends of his, many of them I detest, and the ones I do like, he doesn't approve of. I wish I could choose my own husband. Or better, I wish it wasn't expected of me to have one. Mother keeps saying I need to hurry up, I'm 23 and according to her, I'm running out of time"

I smiled at her.

"Well I don't think you are. If I may say so, you look so lovely, I'm surprised you aren't overwhelmed with offers"

She returned my smile.  
"And would your be one of them, may I ask?" she said playfully.

"It may be..." I hinted with a wink.

She giggled, an adorable sound that made my heart surge with love for her.

From that moment, my mind was made up. I loved Rebecca Annelies Davies, she was the wife I craved, the filling for the large hole in my heart that had existed since Rose left me. But now I needed to find a way to fill it. And there was only one solution - obtaining her father's permission. Yikes.

**A'right, what d'ya think guys? Did I do him justice? I'm not trying to make you think of Cal as the good guy, but he's not exactly the pure evil guy anymore, if that makes any sense at all to you! Please review and don't hate me! :D**


	36. Chapter 36

July 31st 1913

Cal's POV

"Let me get this right" Samual Davis leaned back in his leather desk chair. "You've come here to my house today, seeking my permission to marry my daughter?"

I shifted from one foot to the other awkwardly, but trying to maintain my confident image.

"Yes, sir, I have" I replied. Samuel stayed staring at me for a moment, as though evaluating me. I was as nervous as a turkey on Christmas Eve.

Rebecca and I had become very close over the past couple of weeks since her mother's birthday gala. I loved being with her, and found that it wasn't just her beauty that attracted me to her. I loved everything about her; her youthful enthusiasm, how easy it was to absorb myself in deep conversation with her, and the fact that we had so much in common. She too, had lost a fiancé, I found out. He had left her after she discovoured that he had been envolved with not one but two mistresses throughout their engagement.

And now here I was, standing in her father's study, facing Samuel himself, requesting his permission to ask her to marry me. It took courage to confront him. If he didn't approve of our relationship, it would be over. For the second time in a year, I would lose the woman I loved. I couldn't bare the thought. I pushed it right out into a small corner of my mind, locking the door and mangling the key. I couldn't let that happen.

A minute later, Samuel leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk, his fingers woven togeather on the desktop. Never once did he take his peircing gaze away from me. Finally, he spoke.

"Cal, as I know my daughter told you, she has been engaged once before, as I know you have. She was truly hurt when she discovoured the truth about him, it broke her poor heart. And he was a suitor that I chose for her, and I gave my full trust and approval of. Now before I allow her to become apart of a serious relationship again, I need to know that you will never to such a thing to her. Rebecca doesn't deserve it. Before I give you my permission, I need you to make me a truthful promise that you will never dream of hurting my daughter. Do I have that promise?"

I listened to his speech, my heart pounding in my chest. He gave me such a serious look that I could almost feel his fearsome eyes burning into mine. His tone of voice alone was enough to make anyone feel nervous. But I stayed strong.

"Yes, sir, you do. I would never hurt your daughter in anyway, I care about her too much. I love her dearly and I would be perfectly happy never to set eyes on another woman as long as I am married to her"

He paused for a moment, considering. Then, suddenly, he smiled.

"Very well. You've proven to me that you truly care for Rebecca, and so, you have my full permission to wed her"

He held out his hand to me. I shook it, relief and happiness swelling inside me. I felt like screaming in delight. I was finally going to get to spend my life with the woman I loved. Finally.

***

_2 months later..._

"I do"

Rebecca's sweet, musical voice sang those two magic words at last. I smiled at her lovingly as I slipped the gold wedding ring onto her finger. She smiled back at me, her eyes glistening with true love and happiness, something I'd never seen in Rose. I was on Cloud 9. I was truly happy.

We wanted to marry as soon as we could. It was a fairly large wedding. With my own money and Rebecca's father's, we could afford to have everything perfect. Rebecca's dress was a snowy white gown with a full, thick, layered skirt and a train, and the bodice was embroided with clear shiny beads. She wore a silver tiara, with a long veil attached, and her hair hung freely in glossy curls with decorative fake daisies clipped in. She was a beautiful angel sent from Heaven.

The reception was held at her house that evening. Hired staff had worked their socks off during the ceramony, hanging endless drapes and banners and laying out large buffet tables crammed with food; caviar, meat platters, large cakes, fruit platters, an amazing number of dipping sauces, the lsit was never ending. And the wedding cake was marvelous, soft sponge filled with thick jam and buttercream, thick white icing with a small bunch of white roses on top. Her mother, Phillipa, was determined her daughter should have the best wedding possible.

But the details of the reception didn't matter to myself of Rebecca. We chatted politely with the guests, danced our first dance, graciously accepted endless wedding gifts and cut the cake, but we were both delighted when the night ended and we could retire to the large bedroom we now shared. A night I'll never forget. My first night with my true love, the begining of the rest of our lives togeather. Nothing else mattered except my beautiful, wonderful Rabecca. I couldn't give a damn if I never layed eyes on Jack and Rose Dawson again in my life.

**Well, amazingly I actually quite enjoyed writing this chapter. It's my first shot at writing this kind of mushy romantic stuff, so let me know what you think. I love reading your reviews, guys, keep 'em coming please, it helps motivate me! :)**


	37. Chapter 37

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Hey guys! Great to see you like what I've done with the most evil son of bitch this side of Hell. Well, he's not so evil anymore. Which is kinda strange, yes, but I think it works. I'll leave him and Rebecca alone for now. For now, I'm going back to Wisconsin (Oh no, I hear it's freezing this time of year! Me no likey cold weather! :D)**

August 29th 1917

Rose's POV

At the age of 4, Danielle was at a stage when everything and anything needed to be thoroughly investigated. I couldn't take my eyes off of her for a minute without her getting into mischief. In one week she had managed to scribble her crayons all over the wall, attempt to start a food fight with the leftovers in Honey's bowl, and broke a flower vase by throwing a building block at it. She had the behaviour I would have expected from a boy, not a girl. Then again, there wasn't one thing girly about her. She hated wearing dresses, threw tantrums when I tried to do anything with her hair, and she much preffered playing with toy soldiers than her own dolls. Some days I felt like I had two boys. James, however, was much better behaved. The complete opposite to his sister, he was quiet most of the time and happy to play quietly for any legnth of time without getting into trouble. You couldn't find a more differant pair of twins.

Little did they know that their days of unlimited freedom and play were coming to an end. In a few days, they would both start school for the first time. I had tried to explain it to them once, but they didn't understand. James seemed vaguelly intrested in the new experience that was to come, but all Danielle understood was that she wouldn't be able to play all day anymore. As soon as she grapsed this concept, disaster struck. She threw a tantrum there and then, refusuign to go to "sool" as she proncounced it. I tried reasoning with her, advertising the fact that she'd learn lots of new things, but her mind was made up. There would be no "sool" for Danielle Dawson.

I was secretly dreading the day I would have to drag her through the village to the small brick building she so actively dispised. Knowing how difficult our daughter could be, Jack said he would take the morning off work to help with Danielle. James would be less hastle. Like every child on their first day of school, he would surely be upset at first, bit he hardly ever made such a fuss as his sister. Dispite my daughter's strong beliefs, I was certain some school discipline would be good for her. She was a little madam who insisted on getting her own way. We always made sure she didn't, but she was a handful. One of the perks of schooling was the fact that it almost always taught children to behave themselves better. I prayed that in a few months time, Danielle would be the little angel I often found myself wishing for.

***

September 5th 1917

Jack's POV

"No! No no no!" Danielle's shrieks rang through the house as I tried to persuade her to come out from under her bed. It was her favourite place to hide, as no one else could get under far enough to pull her out. I was fast loosing my patience with her. It was 8 o'clock and we only had one hour to get to the school. And seeing as we had Danielle to deal with, we were sure it would be a tight scheduel.

"Come on, Dani, school's not that bad"

"Yeah, it is!"

"No, it's not. Why do you think it is?"

"Wanna stay home with Mommy" she whimpered sadly. "Don't wanna stay in sool all day"

"Dani, for the last time, it's not sool, it's _school_. And it's really not so bad you know. And when it's over, Mommy'll come and get you again. OK?"

"No!"

I sighed with frustration. Nothing was working. Then I decided there was only one thing to do. Trickery.

"OK, then. You win, Dani. No school for you today" I said in a defeated voice. Her sapphire blue eyes lit up with victory.

"Yay! No school!"

"Nope, no school. Come out then"

She willingly crawled out from under her bed, her night dress crumpled from laying sprawled on the floor.

"How about we go and see the horses today?" I suggested. Dani nodded eagerly. She loved the horses, especially riding them. She always begged to go by herself, but she wasn't big enough yet, so she was only allowed to sit with me or Rose holding the reigns.

"Yeah!" she yelled excitedly.

"OK, get dressed quick then" I found her smart dress for her and helped her put it on, glad to see she was oblivious to why she was being made to wear it.

When she was ready, I took her downstairs, where Rose was busy making breakfast. James was already dressed and sitting at the table waiting for food. Dani sat down next to him.

"Finally decided to go to school, have you?" Rose asked Dani. Dani gave her a smile.

"Not going to school" she declared. Rose raised her eyebrows.

"And why is that?"

"Daddy said so"

Rose gave me a questioning look. I gave her a wink and indicated Dani. Rose understood the plan and went along with it.

"OK then, no school for you today. But do you want to come with me to take James?"

Dani considered for a moment, then nodded.

"Okay" she said, happily munching on a peice of toast Rose put in front of her. Rose and I couldn't look at eachother without laughing. We felt bad, tricking our little girl, but it was amusing to see her so certain that she had got her way.

She willingly walked down to the village with us, oblivious to the fate we were taking her to. When we arrived at the school, she looked around the playground, mezmorised by the crowded area full of unfarmiliar children and parents. James looked petrified. He clutched Rose's hand anxiously, obviously nervous.

When the time finally came for the children to line up in their classes, we led the twins over to where the other children in their class stood. Dani sensed that something was uo when I had her stand behind James in line.

"No, no school!" she whined, realising her fate. She shook her head violently. I knelt down to her level and smoothed her shoulder legnth blonde hair.

"Come on, Dani, it'll be fine. You're not scared of school are you?"

She sniffed.

"No..." she mumbled. She didn't like admitting to being scared of anything.

"You never know, you might enjoy it"

The look on her face said exactly what she thought of that idea.

"Well, how about you do it to keep James company? At least you both know eachother"

That seemed to lighten her a little bit. Once I convinced her to do it for her brother, she didn't seem quite so reluctant. After a bit more gentle persuasion, she finally gave it.

"Okay..." she mumbled, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"I promise it won't be as bad as you think it is" I assured her. I gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and stood back up.

"Do you both have your lunches?" asked Rose.

The twins both nodded.

"And your pencils?"

They nodded again.

"Alright. I'll come and get you later on, okay?"

Another twin nod. Rose bent down and gave them both a kiss.

"Now be good, both of you. And for goodness' sake, Dani, please do as you're told!"

Dani nodded nervously.

We watched as the teachers led the rows of children into the building, the class of the smallest children (the one our own were in) turning their heads back anxiously, looking for their parents. James did several times, but I guessed Dani was trying to prove to herself, and us, that she was too brave for that.

"God, I hope they aren't too scared" Rose said worriedly. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"They'll be fine. Every kid's like that on their first day of school"

Rose smiled.

"Yeah, I guess you're right"

And sure enough, when I came home from work that evening, James couldn't stop talking about his first day of lessons, his teacher, and all the new friend he'd made, whilst Dani hardly said a word. But she had a look on her fac that showed she had been proven wrong yet again.

**Soooooo, what do ya think? I thought it'd be intresting to write about the twins' first day of school, plus this chapter gave me a chance to develop their characters a bit more. I couldn't think of anything to write about while they were babies, so I skipped a few years. Hope y'all liked it. Reviews please! :)**


	38. Chapter 38

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Hey dudes! Once again, thanks for the reviews, y'all know how they keep me motivated. I've been limiting my updates to one every weeks (usually on Sundays) because I'm a busy girl. School, friends, and general everyday life takes it's toll on a person. And then there's my newfound hobby of songwriting and guitar playing, which is fun, but again, takes a lot out of ya. Anyways, hope you like it!**

**Oh, and I hope everyone has a great christmas. If not I may have to come and find you... XD**

Rose's POV

November 19th 1917

Once again, I found myself in the same position I had found myself in too many times over the past week - retching violently into a bowl. I was getting fed up of this, I couldn't eat anything without it coming back up again a few hours later. Everything made me feel sick. I didn't understand what was wrong with me. Apart from the sickness, I felt absolutely fine. I tried to think of a reason to explain my sickness, but I couldn't find one. Except... Could I be pregnant?

"Mommy? Are you OK?" Dani asked me, a worried look on her face. I gave her a weak smile.

"Yes, I'm fine, sweetie. Just... feeling a little unwell"

"Like when I got ill?"

She had come down with a bad case of influenza last winter, and at one point the doctor told us that there was a chance she might not survive. Dispite being so young, she still remembered being so ill.

"No, Dani, not like that. I'll be fine" I reassured her. I watched her run off happily, wondering how she'd react to a little brother or sister. Though quite boisterous and unruly at times, she culd be caring and gentle when she wanted to be. As for James, I was sure he'd be happy to have another sibling. He rarely made a fuss about anything, keeping quiet almost all the time. He wouldn't even tell us if he wasn't feeling well.

Looking at their two differant charactaristics, I wondered what a third child would be like. Would it be a mixture of the two? A match of just one of them? What if it was twins again? As much as I loved them, I wasn't sure I could deal with another pair. They were hard work, esecially when they were toddlers. Now they were at infant school age they were a bit easier to deal with. As I'd hoped, some old fashioned school discipline had worked well on Dani and she was now easier to control. They had made friends at school, spending some afternoons round their friends' houses, or they came to ours. They were both getting on well with their studies, excitedly demonstrating their first shaky attempts at writing their names. And just last weeks they'd ridden the horses by themselves (with Jack and I leading the horses, of course). These milestone accomplishments made me feel so proud of them.

I sighed inwardly. Everything was so perfect. If I was pregnant, this would ruin it. I would swell up like a balloon again, have to endure the pain of birth, suffer sleepless nights and long days. And worst of all, I dreaded the depression that was liable to return. The horrible cloud that had surrounded me in my last months of pregnancy was horrible. I knew how unpleasant I was to be around during that period and I feared returning to that short tempered, unhappy state of mind again.

And more to the point, could I handle taking care of three children? The twins still needed me to be there for them, and the arrvial of a tiny, helpless baby would only put more strain on me. Yes, the twins were at school for most of the day now, but I was still worried I wouldn't be able to cope with the stress and dedication a baby needed.

For the rest of the day, I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that I could be having another baby. I sat by myself, holding my stomach and wondering about the tiny life that could be inside there. To be plain, I didn't want another baby. I was happy with the two I had now. And after the hard times I went through with the twins, I was so scared of going through that again. I just couldn't do it.

But before I began upseting myself, I needed to know if I really WAS pregnant. But I couldn't go and see a doctor with the kids. So I had to wait all day until Jack came home. I was uneasy for the rest of the day, impatiently waiting. The twins could tell something was wrong when iI wouldn't let them play with my guitar, or cancelled our daily walk with Honey in the feilds. It put them in a miserable mood aswell, they weren't used to my unhappy mood.

When Jack finally arrived home, I lept to my feet and grabbed Honey's lead.

"I'm taking Honey for a walk" I replied quickly when he asked me where I was going. I snapped the lead on and made a hasty exit.

Once of the house, I walked quickly down the path towards the village, Honey straining at her ead. She was more than happy to go for an evening walk, after missing out of her usual afternoon one. I had butterflies in my stomach as we approached the doctor's surgery. My hands were shaking as I tied Honey's lead to the fence. I knew she'd be safe outside. Chippewa Falls has a very low crime level, and I wouldn't be gone too long. Once I'd tied the lead tightly enough, I gave Honey a pat on the head and she licked my nose reassuringly. I stood up and turned around to face the enterance to the doctor's surgery. _This is it_, I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and walked inside.

It was quiet inside, with only a couple of people in the waiting room, so I was able to be seenw ithout an appointment. Once I'd given the receptionist my name, I sat down down on a spare chair and waited to be seen, my heart pounding in my chest. It was about half an hour later when the white coated doctor appeared in the doorway after dismissing his last patient.

"Rose Dawson?" he called. I gave a small nod and followed him through to his office...

Over the next few minutes, the doctor asked me some questions and I gave him answers. I told him about the constant vomiting I'd been experiencing, and how I just seemed to _feel _differant. The doctor seemed deep in thought, letting out the occasional "Hmm" and "Ah" which after a while began to make me quite aggitated. I let him examine me, feeling my abdomen, shaking my head when he asked me if it hurt anywhere. Then he sat back in his chair, and told me straight. I was pregnant.

I had predicted the outcome long before he told me, but I was still shocked all the same. It felt like the worst thing I could have been told. I felt like a child who'd just been tld that Christmas was cancelled. I was distraught. The doctor saw that I wasn't overjoyed at the news.

"Mrs Dawson? Is there a problem?" he asked politely.

I quickly blincked away the tears forming in my eyes.

"Um, I- I don't know!" I gasped. "It's just, this isn't the most convenient thing to happen to me"

"Is it that you are financially unable to raise this baby?"

I shook my head. We were doing pretty well off right now. We weren't rich, but we had enough money to live on, and a bit spare.

"No, it's not the money. Its... I don't know how to say it"

"Well, if you could try, I might be able to help"

"OK... Well, this is going to sound horrible, but I don't _want_ this baby"

The doctor was very understanding. He didn't judge me or think me a bad person, he understood my point of view. I told him that I already had 4 year old twins to care for, and that I didn't think I could manage looking after another baby. I also told him about the depression I had gone into during my last pregnancy and about how scared I was of going through it again.

"Mrs Dawson" the doctor said calmly, leaning forward in his chair. "I'm afraid there is no easy way out of your problem. There is no medication I can offer you, so my services as a doctor are very limited. However, my services as an experienced father can be of some assistance to you. My wife and I have four children, all of which are little over a year apart in age. Believe me, it was no easy ride for either of us, but I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Yes, there were hard times, but the good times are very much worth it. You say you also have 4 year old twins? Well I'm sure you have enjoyed having them far much more than you regret it"

I listened to the doctor, and what he said really did make sense. Yes, the twins were hard work, they were troublesome at times, they made me feel angry and upset, but I loved them so much, and we had so many happy memories with them. The doctor was right; I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

"Thank you, doctor" I thanked him as I left the office. He smiled at me reassuringly.

"Any time, Rose" he replied, giving me a pat on the shoulder.

I left the surgery feeling slightly lifted, but it didn't make me feel completely positive of having this baby. I still had doubts, but I was a survivor. If I could survive the sinking of the Titanic five years previosuly, I could survive raising another child. I was sure.

**Wow. I took my time on this chapter, trying to get it just right. What amazes me the most is that I did no research for this whatsoever. Nada, zilch, nein. I just used my common sense. I really outdo myself sometimes! :)**

**Reviews please guys! I'd especially like them for this chapter, I need to know if I did a good job with the whole "baby fear" thing! **


	39. Chapter 39

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Thanks again for the reviews guys. I know I keep thanking you everytime I update, but that's how much I appreciate it :) OK, here's the next chapter then. Hope you all had a great New Year, I know I did. Wow, 2010. 10 years into the Millennium (which I can't remember very clearly, I was only 5). What was that Millennium Big thing? Sounds intresting to me! If anyone knows, please tell me, I'm curious to know! :D HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!**

November 19th 1917

Jack's POV

Why Rose had left in such a hurry was a mystery to me. She never took Honey out in the evenings, she always did that in the afternoon, especially in November, when Wisconsin wasn't exactly warm in the middle of the day, let alone the evening. It was as though she was hiding something.

"Daddy, where's Mommy gone?" James asked me after she left.

"She's just taken Honey out for a walk" I replied, deciding there was no point in worrying the twins.

"But it's dark. Honey doesn't like the dark" Dani commented.

"Are you sure that's Honey and not you?" I asked her. I knew she didn't like the dark. But Dani being Dani would never admit it.

"I don't like the dark" James added.

"Only babies are scared of the dark" Dani teased her brother.

"No"

"Yes!"

I left them to argue amongst themselves, knoWing exactly what would happen. They'd wind eachother up a bit, sulk in seperate corners of the room, and within an hour they'd be playing togeather happily again.

As usual, I took out the folder which I kept my work drawings in and sat at the kitchen table finising drawing which needed to be in the following day. This was what I did every evening, and the drawings were usually finished by the time Rose had cooked dinner. Sometimes the twins liked to watch me, and had tried to copy the sketches on peices of scrap paper. Both found it difficult, which was only natural considering their age. Plus the fact that Rose wouldn't let them use charcoal. For a young inexperienced child, charcoal was a messing tool to be using.

About an hour later, I finished the drawing I was working on, signed it and put it back in the folder. I checked on the twins, who were playing in the sitting room. One of their favourite games was to fight toy soldiers against eachother. Rose often expressed her dislike of this game, it worried her because she was convinced they would think violence was OK to use. I told her to relax, they were only playing, and any serious fighting was quickly dealt with, not that there was a lot of it.

Suddenly, I heard the front door unlock. Then came the unmistakable sound of Honey's panting and her toenails scraping on the hard floors. The kids ran downstairs to greet their mother.

"Mommy!" shouted Dani, leaping into Rose's arms. "Why did you go? Honey doesn't like the dark"

Rose's smile faded slightly.

"Dani, can you and James go and play in your room for a while?"

They both willingly walked off, disapointed at the lack of answer.

Rose avoided looking at me, taking as long as she could to put Honey's lead away.

"Rose, where did you go?" I asked her.

She didn't answer. She leaned her head against the wall and sighed. I stroked her hair with my hand.

"Rose, tell me" I said gently.

She finally looked up at me, and I could see tears in her eyes.

"I went to the doctor" she stammered, her voice filled with emotion.

"Why? Are you sick?"  
"No. I... I'm pregnant"

The tears finally overflowed in her eyes.

I pulled her close to me, letting her cry on my shoulder. I didn't know why she was so upset. She was pregant, we were going to have another baby. That was good, wasn't it? Why wasn't she happy about it?

When she finally calmed down, I asked her.

"Why are you so sad about it? We're going to have a baby!"

"Because... I don't really know. I guess I just don't feel ready to have another one"

"It's been nearly 5 years. How can you not be ready?"

"Oh, I don't know, I just don't!" She sounded frustrated for not knowing her own feelings.

"Rose, I don't know what you're so scared of, but I'm sure it's worth going through for the sake of our baby"

She smiled.

"That's what the doctor said"

I brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"And he was right"

I started to kiss her but she pulled away.

"We need to tell the twins" she pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess we do. How do you think they'll take it?"

"No idea. Let's just hope they understand. They're only 4"

"They'll understand that they're going to get a brother or sister, at least. They don't need to know how it happened"

Rose smiled.

"No, not yet" she agreed.

We called the twins downstairs and sat them down on the sofa. They knew something was going on. We weren't sure quite how to tell them, so in the end we just said it outright.

"You're going to get a new brother or sister" Rose told them.

Their confused faces told us they didn't fully understand.

"But I already have one" James said.

"Yeah, me too" Dani agreed with her brother.

"Well, now you're going to get another one" I explained.

"When?" Dani asked. She looked around, as if expecting to find it.

"Not for a while" Rose told her.

"Oh"

Neither of them looked like they fully understood, but it would do for now.

Rose went to bed early that night, and when I finally joined her, she was rubbing her flat stomach and staring at it.

"Are you OK?" I asked, laying down on the bed beside her.

"Yes, fine" she replied, letting out a small sigh.

"So, do you think it will be a girl or a boy?"

"I don't know. But I know I'll love it either way. I just hope it isn't twins again"

"Me too. One pair is enough"

"Or worse, it could be triplets!" Rose said with a small laugh.

"Let's hope not, can you imagine five kids running around? It'd be chaos!"

Rose laughed again. It was good to see her happy again. It would take a bit of time, but I knew Rose would come around eventually.

"Jack, I've just thought of something" she said in a disapointed voice.

"What is it?"

"Our trip to Santa Monica next summer, we'll have to cancel it. I can't travel, I'll be the size of a whale by then"

We had planned to take a holiday to Santa Monica next summer, to finally do all the things we'd planned on the Titanic. We were planning to go in July, when it would be nice and hot. We'd already told the kids we were going, they'd be devastated if we cancelled it. Then an idea hit me.

"We don't have to cancel it, we'll just go at a differant time" I said.

"When? Even if we go next summer, we'l still have a small baby with us"

"No, not next summer. We could go next month and spend Christmas there. You'll only be a month or so pregnant, so you won't be in danger of giving birth on the beach-"

"Hey!" she hit my arm playfully.

"And it might not be as hot, but the kids'll still love it. What do you say?"

She considered for a moment, then nodded.

"That sounds great" she agreed. "Christmas at the seaside, sounds like fun!"

"Just don't expect it to be too hot. It'll still be fairly warm, compared to here, but it you won't come back with a tan"

Rose shrugged.

"I don't tan easily anyway, it doesn't go well with my hair. Red is such an awkward colour"

I ran my hand through her auburn curls.

"No it's not. I love it, it suits you"

She smiled at me. Then she sat up and kissed me. I kissed her back, and it soon turned more passionate, and... well, you can probrably guess what happened next...

**Short but sweet, that's how I like it. :) Hope you guys liked, and yet again I am asking you nicely for reviews. Please? :D **


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